BioInvent signs licensing agreement with Daiichi Sankyo for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies
Lund, Sweden - 13 November 2009 - BioInvent International AB (OMXS: BINV) has announced that it has entered into a licence and discovery agreement with DAIICHI SANKYO COMPANY, LIMITED (TSE: 4568) for the development of therapeutic antibodies against multiple targets. Under the terms of the collaboration, Daiichi Sankyo will be granted broad access to BioInvent's discovery and development technology platform and in house antibody expertise. As part of the agreement, BioInvent has secured certain co-promotion rights in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries.
BioInvent will receive an upfront access fee and annual maintenance fees for its antibody library, and success-based milestone payments. In addition, Daiichi Sankyo will also fund all research work and BioInvent is entitled to royalties on any commercialised products, as well as benefiting from the opportunity for selective co-promotion.
As well as gaining access to BioInvent's proprietary n-CoDeR® library for the discovery of human monoclonal antibodies, Daiichi Sankyo will also benefit from BioInvent's in-house pre-clinical antibody skills. The n-CoDe R® library contains more than 20 billion (2 x 1010) highly diverse, fully human antibody fragments that have been created using BioInvent's patented technology platform, generating antibodies with high affinity and selectivity.
As well as working with Daiichi Sankyo in Japan, BioInvent will also work with Daiichi Sankyo's German affiliate U3 Pharma GmbH. The discovery and development process will be governed by a joint steering committee.
Svein Mathisen, CEO of BioInvent, commented "We are pleased that our technology platform and expertise continue to attract the attention and long term commitment of big pharma. BioInvent is established as a trusted partner for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies, and with this agreement we are continuing to grow our presence and recognition in the Japanese market."
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Notes to Editors:
About BioInvent
BioInvent International AB, listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm (BINV), is a research-based
pharmaceutical company that focuses on developing antibody drugs. The Company is currently running
innovative drug projects within the areas of thrombosis, cancer and atherosclerosis. The Company has signed
various strategic alliances around these product candidates and is developing them in collaboration with
partners including Genentech, Roche and ThromboGenics.
These projects are based around a competitive and in substance patented antibody development platform.
The scope and strength of this platform is also utilised by partners, such as ALK-Abelló, Bayer HealthCare, Daiichi Sankyo, ImmunoGen, Mitsubishi Tanabe, OrbusNeich, UCB and XOMA. More information is available at www.bioinvent.com.
For further information, please contact:
BioInvent International AB
Svein Mathisen
President & CEO
Tel: +46 (0)46-286 85 67
Mobile: +46 (0)708-97 82 13
E-mail: [email protected]
Cristina Glad
Executive Vice President
Tel: +46 (0)46-286 85 51
Mobile: +46 (0)708-16 85 70
E-mail: [email protected]
College Hill (media enquiries)
Holly Griffiths, Sue Charles, Benjamyn Tan
Tel: +44 (0)20 7457 2020
Erik Clausen, Kena Hudson (US)
Tel: +1 415-230-5385
E-mail: [email protected]
BioInvent International AB (publ)
Co. reg. No. 556537-7263,
Address: Sölvegatan 41
Mailing address: SE-223 70 LUND
Tel: +46 (0)46 286 85 50
[email protected]
www.bioinvent.com
Legal disclaimer
This press release contains statements about the future, consisting of subjective assumptions and forecasts for future scenarios. Predictions for the future only apply as of the date they are made and are, by their very nature, in the same way as research and development work in the biotech segment, associated with risk and uncertainty. With this in mind, the actual outcome may deviate significantly from the scenarios described in this press release.
Information disclosed in this press release is provided herein pursuant to the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 8.30 a.m. CET, on 13 November, 2009.