Under the deal, Janssen will acquire exclusive rights to Bavarian’s MVA-BN technology for use in a prime-boost vaccine regimen together with its AdVac technology to target all cancers induced by HPV.
Janssen will pay $9m upfront and has committed to potential development and commercial milestone payments together totaling around $171m.
The company will fund all development costs, while Bavarian Nordic will carry out all manufacturing related to MVA-BN.
Bavarian Nordic may also receive single-digit tiered royalties on product sales in the future.
The companies started their MVA-BN collaboration in October last year, when they evaluated the technology for Ebola virus.
Janssen approach in the latest study will be same to that used in the Ebola vaccine regimen, which is presently in phase III clinical trials.
The Prime-boost approach has demonstrated to induce a strong and long-lasting immune response with increased antibodies and T cell responses, Janssen said.
The companies plan to develop a vaccine, which intends to treat chronic HPV infections and intercept precancerous stages of cancer.
Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin said: "Through the ongoing collaboration on Ebola, we have already made significant advances with our MVA-BN technology, demonstrating its potential to enhance and prolong immune responses induced by Janssen’s AdVac technology, and we look forward to expanding the partnership to explore the same concept for HPV."
Bavarian Nordic has carried out over 12 preclinical and clinical trials of recombinant MVA-BN-based vaccines.
Image: Bavarian Nordic president & CEO Paul Chaplin. Photo: courtesy of Bavarian Nordic.