Under the license agreement, Medivation will be responsible for all development, regulatory and commercialization activities for pidilizumab for all indications, including oncology.
The agreement includes a guaranty with respect to certain obligations of CureTech by Clal Biotechnology Industries Ltd. (CBI), CureTech’s largest (53%) shareholder. The guaranty has been approved by CBI shareholders. Under the terms of the license agreement, CureTech will receive an upfront payment of $5.0 million from Medivation and would also be entitled to payments upon the attainment of certain development and regulatory milestones totaling up to $85 million. In addition, CureTech would be eligible to receive sales-based milestone payments totaling up to $245 million upon the achievement of certain annual worldwide net sales thresholds and tiered royalties ranging from 5%-11% based on annual worldwide net sales.
About pidilizumab
Pidilizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody which belongs to a class of anticancer therapies that target the immune system. Cancer cells evade destruction by suppressing immune T lymphocytes through activation of the PD-1 (programmed death-1) pathway. Pidilizumab binds the PD-1 protein on T lymphocytes and facilitates the T cells’ ability to target and destroy cancer cells.