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news.Compugen has signed an exclusive license agreement with AstraZeneca’s subsidiary MedImmune for the development of bi-specific and multi-specific immuno-oncology antibody products.
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As per terms of the deal, MedImmune will exclusively develop bi-specific and multi-specific antibody products derived from a Compugen pipeline program.
The exclusive license will allow MedImmune to create multiple products, and is also responsible for all research, development and commercial activities under the deal.
Compugen will secure $10m upfront payment, and is eligible to secure up to $200m based on the achievement of development, regulatory and commercial milestones for the first product.
Compugen president and CEO Anat Cohen-Dayag said: “This licensing deal allows us to monetize specific scientific advances in our programs, while we continue to advance our lead programs into clinical trials.
"We are committed to our strategy of selectively collaborating with biopharmaceutical companies for the development of first-in-class products against our diverse, computationally-derived portfolio of targets."
Compugen will also secure tiered royalties on future product sales, as well as additional milestones and royalties, if additional products are developed.
The company will hold all other rights to its entire pipeline of programs as monotherapies and in combination with other products.
Antibodies are naturally occurring components of the immune system, which bind specifically to a target protein through two identical arms.
Via genetic engineering, antibodies can be altered to bind to different proteins through the two separate arms by exchanging one arm with that of another antibody with a different target specificity.
Additional features can also be engineered into an antibody to enable binding to three or more target proteins simultaneously.
MedImmune oncology research and development vice president Ronald Herbst said: "This agreement with Compugen will support our abilities to generate novel immunotherapy targets which, coupled with MedImmune's expertise in antibody engineering, can advance our goal of delivering treatments to meaningfully improve the lives of cancer patients.”
Image: MedImmune, Gaithersburg, USA. Photo: courtesy of AstraZeneca.