F-star Therapeutics Reports License Deal With J&J's Janssen To Develop, Commercialize Multiple Next Gen Bispecific Antibody Therapeutics; Co. To Receive Upfront Fees Of $17.5M, Near-Term Fees, Milestones Up To $1.35B
8:04 am ET October 20, 2021 (Benzinga) Print
F-star Therapeutics, Ltd. (NASDAQ:FSTX) (“F-star” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing next generation immunotherapies to transform the lives of patients with cancer, today announced that it has entered into a license and collaboration agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. The agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation.
Under the terms of the agreement, F-star will grant Janssen a worldwide, exclusive royalty-bearing license to research, develop, and commercialize up to five novel bispecific antibodies directed to Janssen therapeutic targets using F-star’s proprietary Fcab™ and mAb2™ platforms. Janssen will be responsible for all research, development, and commercialization activities under the agreement.
Neil Brewis, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of F-star said, “We are pleased to collaborate with Janssen and leverage the science of F-star’s proprietary tetravalent bispecific technology. Beyond our proprietary pipeline, we believe there is broad potential for our mAb2 platform to produce multiple next-generation bispecific antibody therapeutics.”
Under the terms of the agreement F-star is entitled to receive upfront fees of $17.5 million, near-term fees and potential further milestones of up to $1.35 billion. F-star is also eligible to receive potential tiered mid-single digit royalties on annual net sales.