The grant of the license follows the exercise by this top-tier global pharmaceutical company of the option (the ‘antibody option’) that it acquired from Intellect pursuant to an option agreement executed by Intellect and the top-tier global pharmaceutical company (the optionee) in October 2008.
Intellect is entitled to a license fee upon the exercise of the antibody option by the optionee. In addition, Intellect may be entitled to future patent based milestone payments and royalties from potential future drug sales by the optionee.
Daniel Chain, Intellect’s chairman and CEO, said: We are gratified to see our approach being used by major pharmaceutical companies to combat Alzheimer’s disease. We are pleased to enter into this second licensing agreement with a top-tier global pharmaceutical company for our patent estate relating to the use of monoclonal antibodies designed to slow or arrest progression of the disease.
We believe that several therapeutic agents may be necessary to fully treat the Alzheimer’s disease population and that our licensing efforts, together with our internal development programs, will increase the likelihood of developing safe and effective therapies.