Arix Bioscience’s Harpoon Therapeutics signs billion dollar deal with AbbVie
, the 12.1% owners of Harpoon Therapeutics, hailed the announcement of Harpoon’s exclusive option and license deal with biotech giant AbbVie on Thursday.
Nasdaq listed Harpoon Therapeutics, granted AbbVie an option to license worldwide exclusive rights to HPN217, Harpoon’s Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct (TriTAC) technology.
T cell engagers are engineered proteins that direct a patient’s own T cells to kill target cells that express specific proteins, or antigens.
Harpoon will be eligible for up to $1.84 billion in payments if certain milestones and licensed products are successfully progressed, plus tiered royalties on net sales by AbbVie, according to an SEC filing.
Shares in Arix Bioscience ticked up 1.79% to 113.5p during Thursday trading in London
Responsibility for the development of HPN217 through Phase 1/2 clinical trials will fall on Harpoon Therapeutics, building on a discovery collaboration it signed with AbbVie in October 2017.
After completion of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial, AbbVie has the right to exercise its option to license HPN217 for $50 million upfront, and up to $50 million for the first patient treated.
Gerald McMahon, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Harpoon commented: “Harpoon has built a unique and proprietary biologics platform that utilizes the cancer patient’s own immune system to attack cancer. HPN217, targeting BCMA, is poised to advance to clinical development for the treatment of multiple myeloma”
He said: “We believe AbbVie is the ideal partner for Harpoon to support the advancement of our BCMA program given the commercial focus of AbbVie in the treatment of this cancer.”
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