Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. today announced that it has exercised its option to enter into a development and license agreement with Numab Therapeutics AG for a multispecific antibody candidate in the immuno-oncology area that was generated through a research collaboration between the two companies initiated in 2017.
Under the terms of the license agreement, Ono acquires intellectual property rights and exclusive global development and commercialization rights for a multispecific antibody targeting a novel immuno-oncology target. In consideration for the license agreement, Ono will pay to Numab up to CHF 258 million for upfront fee and milestone payments depending on the development progress, as well as sales achievements including the payments under the research and option agreement executed in 2017. Ono will also pay to Numab tiered single to double digit royalties on future sales.
Toichi Takino, Senior Executive Officer / Executive Director, Discovery & Research of Ono Pharmaceutical, said:
We hope that the program candidate generated through our work with Numab will become a therapeutic option for patients with cancer who may benefit from this new treatment modality. Through the synergy between Numab’s multispecific antibody platform and Ono’s deep immuno-oncology expertise, we are continuously committed to fueling our diverse drug discovery efforts to advance our immuno-oncology pipeline.
David Urech, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Numab, said:
We are proud to have advanced this novel multispecific antibody candidate against a new and very challenging immuno-oncology target to this milestone. The licensing of the asset is an affirmation of our platform’s ability to create novel and unique pharmacology. We look forward to our continued partnership with Ono as we have been further collaborating on our shared mission of developing next generation immuno-oncology therapeutics for patients with cancer.
In March 2020, Ono expanded the alliance with Numab by entering into a second research and option agreement to discover and develop a distinct multispecific antibody drug candidates, other than those covered by this agreement, for the treatment of various cancers.
