NEWS
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Enters Into Development Collaboration with Dios Therapeutics
Thursday May 31, 3:54 pm ET
-Terms of the Agreement Provide for Peregrine to Receive Development Fees and Potential Royalties That Could Exceed $50 Million-
TUSTIN, Calif., May 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPHM - News), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, announced today that it has entered into a development collaboration with Dios Therapeutics, Inc., an emerging biotechnology company founded in 2006. Under the terms of the agreement, Peregrine will provide process development and manufacturing services and know-how to support early clinical development for Dios' proprietary humanized monoclonal antibody for the treatment of thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) using existing development and manufacturing capacity once Dios provides Peregrine with its lead humanized antibody product candidate. In exchange for these development efforts, Peregrine has the option to convert its development fees into either cash or equity in Dios at a preferential conversion rate after Phase I trials. Peregrine also could receive a royalty on net product sales or Dios has the option to buy out the royalty obligation for a one-time fee which could total up to $50 million dollars. The buy-out option is exercisable anytime for a period up to two years after first commercial sale. Under the terms of the agreement, Dios is responsible for all third party expenses related to manufacturing process development as well as all pre-clinical and clinical trial costs.
"Even with increased demand for our manufacturing services from outside clients, we continue to seek attractive opportunities such as this to create value out of our existing manufacturing expertise and capacity," stated David King, Peregrine's vice president of business development. "We are particularly pleased to enter into this collaboration with Dios for this exciting first-in-class technology that has already shown promising signs of activity."
"We are delighted to enter into this strategic relationship with Peregrine because of its proven capabilities and track record in cGMP manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies and product development," said Dr. Glenn Albrecht, Dios' president and chief executive officer. "We believe this collaboration creates substantial opportunities and upside potential for both companies and is a sign of the potential value of our company and our novel therapeutic."
About Dios Therapeutics
Dios Therapeutics, Inc. is an emerging biotechnology company focused on developing non-immunosuppressing therapeutics for the treatment of multiple autoimmune indications including Graves disease, Hashimoto disease and rheumatoid arthritis. The Company was founded in 2006 with the aim of commercializing potentially path breaking discoveries from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dios will use these novel molecular insights to develop better autoimmune disease therapeutics without the generalized immune suppression associated with current therapies. The Company is initially
focusing on developing therapeutics to treat thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO), a severe form of Graves disease that can lead to vision loss.
