Under the agreement terms, EpimAb is set to receive an upfront payment, along with development and sales milestones that could exceed $1bn, provided multiple drug candidates reach commercialisation.
Additionally, the company is set to earn royalties on net sales.
Candid holds exclusive global rights to develop and commercialise programmes discovered under this partnership.
The company is focused on the advancement of TCEs for B-cell depletion for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
It is currently progressing with two lead B-cell depleting TCE antibody drug candidates and aims to broadly explore the potential of TCEs across multiple autoimmune diseases.
Candid Therapeutics chairman, president, and CEO Dr Ken Song said: “EpimAb team has impressed us with their scientific expertise and antibody design capabilities. We are excited to partner with EpimAb as we broaden our pipeline of novel TCEs for autoimmune indications.”
EpimAb specialises in the development of multi-specific antibodies. With a range of in-house research and technology capabilities, including the Fabs-In-Tandem Immunoglobulin and Monovalent Asymmetric Tandem Fab bispecific platform, the company is working to generate a pipeline of preclinical and clinical assets for cancer patients.
EpimAb Biotherapeutics CEO and founder Dr Chengbin Wu said: “We are excited to enter this partnership with Candid, a company with the leadership and resources to realise full potential of TCEs in autoimmune indications.
“We are proud of the versatility of our proprietary bispecific and TCE platforms and the partnership with Candid provides further validation of our approach.”