The payment was triggered by the approval of an investigational new drug (IND) application from the FDA for the Phase I trial for a Nanobody.
Both the companies have entered into a commercial licensing agreement in July 2010, under which Novartis obtained licenses to develop and commercialize Nanobodies against two targets.
According to the agreement, Novartis is responsible for the continued progress of both programs and Ablynx will receive development-based milestone payments and royalties on sales following commercialization of the products.
Ablynx CEO and chairman Edwin Moses said: "This development candidate demonstrates the power of the Nanobody platform in addressing complex target classes that are challenging to address with conventional antibodies."