BioInvent, Daiichi in Antibody Pact

BioInvent International has entered into a license and discovery agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Co. for the development of therapeutic antibodies against multiple targets. Daiichi Sankyo will have access to BioInvent’s discovery and development technology platform, n-CoDeR library, and in-house antibody expertise. As part of the agreement, BioInvent has secured certain co-promotion rights in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries.

BioInvent will receive an upfront access fee and annual maintenance fees for its antibody library, and success-based milestone payments. Daiichi Sankyo will fund all research work and BioInvent is entitled to royalties on any commercialized products. Financial terms were not disclosed.

As well as working with Daiichi Sankyo in Japan, BioInvent will also work with the company’s German affiliate U3 Pharma GmbH. A joint steering committee will oversee the discovery and development process.

Svein Mathisen, chief executive officer of BioInvent, commented, “We are pleased that our technology platform and expertise continue to attract the attention and long term commitment of big pharma. BioInvent is established as a trusted partner for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies, and with this agreement we are continuing to grow our presence and recognition in the Japanese market.”

The n-CoDeR library contains more than 20 billion diverse, fully human antibody fragments that have been created using BioInvent’s technology platform.