Zymeworks and Daiichi Sankyo announced the successful achievement of a research milestone for an immuno-oncology bispecific antibody therapeutic candidate. In conjunction with this milestone achievement, Zymeworks is to receive a milestone payment of one million dollars from Daiichi Sankyo.
Under the terms of their existing agreement signed on September 26, 2016, Zymeworks granted Daiichi Sankyo a license to Zymeworks’ Azymetric and EFECT platforms to develop a bispecific antibody therapeutic for which Zymeworks is eligible to receive preclinical, clinical and commercial milestone payments, as well as up to double-digit tiered royalties on global product sales. Additionally, Zymeworks obtained a license to certain immuno-oncology antibodies from Daiichi Sankyo, with the right to research, develop and commercialize multiple bispecific products globally in exchange for royalties on global product sales.
“We are very excited by the rapid progress we have made in our collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo, which further demonstrates the versatility and biophysical robustness of the Azymetric platform, and we continue to work closely with Daiichi Sankyo towards advancing this potential immuno-oncology therapeutic towards the clinic,” said Dr. Ali Tehrani, President and CEO of Zymeworks. “In parallel, we are continuing to develop and advance other novel immunomodulatory bispecific antibodies incorporating the immuno-oncology antibodies that were in-licensed from Daiichi Sankyo to expand Zymeworks’ pipeline of therapeutic candidates.”