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news.Genmab has achieved a milestone in its DuoBody technology platform collaboration with Janssen Biotech, triggering a $3m milestone payment.
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The milestone payment is for pre-clinical progress with a DuoBody product candidate targeting cancer. Janssen has optioned 11 programs out of a total of 20 programs under the bispecific DuoBody platform collaboration with Genmab.
Including the collaboration with Janssen, Genmab has five commercial partnerships for its DuoBody technology.
Genmab CEO Jan van de Winkel said: "Bispecific antibodies continue to be one of the most exciting new therapeutic areas in the biotech industry.
Today’s milestone in our DuoBody collaboration with Janssen marks the fifth program for which a clinical candidate has been selected and is another signal of the potential of the DuoBody technology platform to create products that could represent meaningful steps forward in the treatment of cancer."
About the DuoBody Technology Collaboration with Janssen
Under the original July 2012 agreement, Janssen has the right to use the DuoBody technology to create panels of bispecific antibodies (up to 10 DuoBody programs) to multiple disease target combinations.
Genmab received an upfront payment of $3.5m from Janssen and will potentially be entitled to milestone and license payments of up to approximately $175m, as well as royalties for each commercialized DuoBody product.
Under the terms of a December 2013 amendment, Janssen is entitled to work on up to ten additional programs. Genmab received an initial payment of $2m from Janssen.
For each of the ten additional programs that Janssen successfully initiates, develops and commercializes, Genmab will potentially be entitled to receive average milestone and license payments of approximately $191m. In addition, Genmab will be entitled to royalties on sales of any commercialized products.
About the DuoBody Platform
The DuoBody platform is an innovative platform for the discovery and development of bispecific antibodies that may improve antibody therapy of cancer, autoimmune, infectious and central nervous system disease. Bispecific antibodies bind to two different epitopes either on the same, or on different targets (also known as dual-targeting) which may improve the antibodies’ specificity and efficacy in inactivating the disease targets.
DuoBody molecules are unique in combining the benefits of bispecificity with the strengths of conventional antibodies which allows DuoBody molecules to be administered and dosed as other antibody therapeutics. Genmab’s DuoBody platform generates bispecific antibodies via a fast and broadly applicable process which is easily performed at standard bench, as well as commercial, manufacturing scale.