British immunology firm Scancell has found a repeat buyer for its monoclonal antibodies.
Genmab has plucked another anti-glycan antibody from Scancell’s shelves in a deal worth up to $630 million. The license agreement comes about two years after Genmab snagged its first antibody from Scancell for up to $624M, and it brings Genmab's potential tab to a hefty $1.27 billion.
Under the terms of the latest deal, Scancell will receive an upfront payment and potential development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, along with low single-digit royalties on all commercialized products, according to a Dec. 4 release.
In return, Genmab secured exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the antibody into multiple therapeutic products, according to the release.
The maximum possible deal value of $630 million will be hit if Genmab spins the antibody into drug products across all defined modalities, which were not disclosed.
Scancell has a portfolio of five monoclonal antibodies, the company said in the release, with the two anti-glycan antibodies licensed by Genmab developed using the firm’s tumor-targeting GlyMab platform.
“This option exercise for another anti-glycan monoclonal antibody from the Glymab platform builds on our existing relationship with Genmab,” Scancell co-founder and chief scientific officer Lindy Durrant, Ph.D., said in the release. “The commercial license agreement follows an exclusive evaluation period, which further validates that our Glymab antibody platform can generate novel, differentiated, highly tumor-specific antibodies for therapeutic development.”
Back in June, Scancell announced that one of its antibodies was being evaluated by an at-the-time undisclosed “major international biotechnology company." Genmab had seven months to evaluate the antibody, according to a June 12 release, and paid Scancell $1 million for exclusivity as it worked.
Glycans are sugars that can be found attached to the cell membrane and are more abundant in cancer cells, where they play a role in disease progression.