Medarex, Centocor Extend Antibody Pact

Medarex, Inc. and licensing partner, J&J subsidiary Centocor R&D, Inc., have extended their antibody development relationship, providing Centocor with continued access to Medarex’s UltiMAb Human Antibody Development System for the generation of fully human antibodies to an unlimited number of targets.

Under the terms of the new agreement, Centocor will license Medarex’s UltiMAb technology to discover and potentially develop and commercialize antibody therapeutics. Medarex expects to receive license fees and milestone payments as well as royalties on commercial sales of any products that may result from this agreement. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We are delighted with the opportunity to continue our relationship with Centocor,” said Howard H. Pien, president and chief executive officer of Medarex. “We have been pleased to be a partner to Centocor in its development of UltiMAb antibodies into potentially very important products, and we look forward to the extension of this partnership into the future.”