Astellas Pharma Inc. (“Astellas”; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President & CEO: Masafumi Nogimori) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: REGN) announced today that they have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement that will allow Astellas to utilize Regeneron’s VelocImmune(R) technology in its internal research programs to discover human monoclonal antibody product candidates.
TOKYO, Japan and TARRYTOWN, NY, USA | Mar 30, 2007 | Astellas Pharma Inc. (“Astellas”; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President & CEO: Masafumi Nogimori) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: REGN) announced today that they have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement that will allow Astellas to utilize Regeneron’s VelocImmune(R) technology in its internal research programs to discover human monoclonal antibody product candidates.
Astellas will pay $20 million upfront and will make up to five additional annual payments of $20 million, subject to the ability to terminate the agreement after making the first three additional payments. Upon commercialization of any antibody products discovered utilizing VelocImmune, Astellas will pay a mid-single-digit royalty on product sales. Astellas will report the $80 million license fee for the initial four years as an R&D expense on its income statements for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007.
“VelocImmune is the centerpiece of Regeneron’s suite of technologies for the discovery and development of fully human monoclonal antibodies,” said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., President of Regeneron Research Laboratories and Regeneron’s Chief Scientific Officer. “We are pleased that Astellas, a company with a clear strategic commitment to developing therapeutic antibodies, has selected the VelocImmune platform for its internal development programs.”
“We are excited about this license agreement with Regeneron,” said Toshinari Tamura, Ph.D., Astellas’ Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. “As described in our recently announced medium term plan, Astellas is building a new technological platform for the development of antibody drugs, and VelocImmune will become an important cornerstone for our R&D capabilities.”
VelocImmune
Regeneron’s VelocImmune technology offers the potential to increase dramatically the speed and efficiency of discovering fully-human, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. The VelocImmune platform generates fully human monoclonal antibodies (hMAbs) to address clinically relevant targets of therapeutic interest. The VelocImmune mouse, unlike other hMAb mice, mounts a robust immune response that is virtually indistinguishable from that of a wild type mouse, resulting in a reliable and efficient platform for discovering fully human monoclonal antibodies.
SOURCE: Astellas Pharma Inc.
Post Views: 177
Astellas Pharma Inc. (“Astellas”; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President & CEO: Masafumi Nogimori) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: REGN) announced today that they have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement that will allow Astellas to utilize Regeneron’s VelocImmune(R) technology in its internal research programs to discover human monoclonal antibody product candidates.
TOKYO, Japan and TARRYTOWN, NY, USA | Mar 30, 2007 | Astellas Pharma Inc. (“Astellas”; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President & CEO: Masafumi Nogimori) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: REGN) announced today that they have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement that will allow Astellas to utilize Regeneron’s VelocImmune(R) technology in its internal research programs to discover human monoclonal antibody product candidates.
Astellas will pay $20 million upfront and will make up to five additional annual payments of $20 million, subject to the ability to terminate the agreement after making the first three additional payments. Upon commercialization of any antibody products discovered utilizing VelocImmune, Astellas will pay a mid-single-digit royalty on product sales. Astellas will report the $80 million license fee for the initial four years as an R&D expense on its income statements for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007.
“VelocImmune is the centerpiece of Regeneron’s suite of technologies for the discovery and development of fully human monoclonal antibodies,” said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., President of Regeneron Research Laboratories and Regeneron’s Chief Scientific Officer. “We are pleased that Astellas, a company with a clear strategic commitment to developing therapeutic antibodies, has selected the VelocImmune platform for its internal development programs.”
“We are excited about this license agreement with Regeneron,” said Toshinari Tamura, Ph.D., Astellas’ Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. “As described in our recently announced medium term plan, Astellas is building a new technological platform for the development of antibody drugs, and VelocImmune will become an important cornerstone for our R&D capabilities.”
VelocImmune
Regeneron’s VelocImmune technology offers the potential to increase dramatically the speed and efficiency of discovering fully-human, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. The VelocImmune platform generates fully human monoclonal antibodies (hMAbs) to address clinically relevant targets of therapeutic interest. The VelocImmune mouse, unlike other hMAb mice, mounts a robust immune response that is virtually indistinguishable from that of a wild type mouse, resulting in a reliable and efficient platform for discovering fully human monoclonal antibodies.
SOURCE: Astellas Pharma Inc.
Post Views: 177
