Astellas will pay $20 million upfront and will make up to five additional annual payments of $20 million. Upon commercialization of any antibody products discovered utilizing VelocImmune, Astellas will pay a mid-single-digit royalty on product sales.
“As described in our recently announced medium term plan, Astellas is building a new technological platform for the development of antibody drugs, and VelocImmune will become an important cornerstone for our R&D capabilities,” said Toshinari Tamura, Astellas’ executive vice president.