Under the terms of the agreement, Genentech will make an undisclosed upfront payment to Symphogen, as well as an equity investment in Symphogen. In addition, Symphogen is eligible to receive milestone payments upon the success of certain R&D milestones, as well as royalties on any products developed and commercialized by Genentech as a result of this collaboration.
The total value of the agreement has the potential to exceed $330 million, and Genentech will obtain an exclusive worldwide license to candidates developed through this agreement and will fund associated R&D costs.
In this collaboration, Symphogen will apply its proprietary Symplex antibody discovery technology platform to identify novel infectious disease drug candidates. Furthermore, Genentech will gain access to Symphogen’s Sympress technology to produce recombinant polyclonal antibodies.
Kirsten Drejer, CEO of Symphogen, said: “This deal underscores our belief that Symphogen’s technologies offer a valuable approach to create next-generation therapeutics that address critical unmet medical needs in the treatment of serious infections.”