Company Announcement
- Co-development and commercialization agreement with BioNTech
- Collaboration will focus on multiple product candidates in field of immuno-oncology
- BioNTech provides antibody panels and Genmab provides DuoBody technology
Copenhagen, Denmark; May 19, 2015 – Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) announced today it has entered an agreement with BioNTech AG to jointly research, develop and commercialize bispecific antibody products using Genmab’s DuoBody technology platform. Under the terms of the agreement, BioNTech will provide proprietary antibodies against key immunomodulatory targets that play an important role in activating the immune system against cancer, while Genmab provides access to its DuoBody technology platform. Genmab will pay an upfront fee of USD 10 million to BioNTech and additional potential near-term payments of up to USD 5 million if certain BioNTech assets are selected for further development. If the companies jointly select any product candidates for clinical development, development costs and product ownership will be shared equally going forward. If one of the companies does not wish to move a product candidate forward, the other company is entitled to continue developing the product on predetermined licensing terms. The agreement also includes provisions which will allow the parties to opt out of joint development at key points.
“This collaboration with BioNTech focuses on two very interesting areas in the antibody therapeutic space – bispecific antibodies and immuno-oncology - and supports Genmab’s strategy of creating a broad pipeline of differentiated next-generation antibody therapeutics,” said Jan van de Winkel, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Genmab.
Today’s agreement does not impact Genmab’s 2015 financial guidance.
About Genmab
Genmab is a publicly traded, international biotechnology company specializing in the creation and development of differentiated human antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Founded in 1999, the company currently has one marketed antibody, Arzerra® (ofatumumab) for the treatment of certain chronic lymphocytic leukemia indications and daratumumab in clinical development for multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, in addition to other clinical programs, and an innovative pre-clinical pipeline. Genmab's technology base consists of validated and proprietary next generation antibody technologies - the DuoBody® platform for generation of bispecific antibodies, and the HexaBody® platform which creates effector function enhanced antibodies. Genmab's deep antibody expertise is expected to provide a stream of future product candidates. Partnering of selected innovative product candidates and technologies is a key focus of Genmab’s strategy and the company has alliances with top tier pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. For more information visit www.genmab.com.
Contact:
Rachel Curtis Gravesen, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications
T: +45 33 44 77 20; M: +45 25 12 62 60; E: r.gravesen@genmab.com
This Company Announcement contains forward looking statements. The words “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intend” and “plan” and similar expressions identify forward looking statements. Actual results or performance may differ materially from any future results or performance expressed or implied by such statements. The important factors that could cause our actual results or performance to differ materially include, among others, risks associated with pre-clinical and clinical development of products, uncertainties related to the outcome and conduct of clinical trials including unforeseen safety issues, uncertainties related to product manufacturing, the lack of market acceptance of our products, our inability to manage growth, the competitive environment in relation to our business area and markets, our inability to attract and retain suitably qualified personnel, the unenforceability or lack of protection of our patents and proprietary rights, our relationships with affiliated entities, changes and developments in technology which may render our products obsolete, and other factors. For a further discussion of these risks, please refer to the risk management sections in Genmab’s most recent financial reports, which are available on www.genmab.com. Genmab does not undertake any obligation to update or revise forward looking statements in this Company Announcement nor to confirm such statements in relation to actual results, unless required by law.
Genmab A/S and its subsidiaries own the following trademarks: Genmab®; the Y-shaped Genmab logo®; Genmab in combination with the Y-shaped Genmab logo™; the DuoBody logo®; the HexaBody logo™; HuMax®; HuMax-CD20®; DuoBody®; HexaBody® and UniBody®. Arzerra® is a trademark of Novartis Pharma AG.
Company Announcement no. 22
CVR no. 2102 3884
Genmab A/S
Bredgade 34E
1260 Copenhagen K
Denmark
