Alligator Bioscience to receive USD 6 million milestone payment from Janssen coupled to the decision to initiate combination trial with ADC-1013
Lund, Sweden, 3 January, 2018 – Alligator Bioscience (Nasdaq Stockholm: ATORX), a biotechnology company developing antibody-based pharmaceuticals for tumor-directed immunotherapy, announced today that a development milestone payment of USD 6 million has been triggered under the partnership agreement for ADC-1013 (JNJ-64457107) with Janssen Biotech, Inc.
The milestone payment is for the partnership agreement to initiate a clinical combination study of ADC-1013 with one of Janssen’s proprietary PD-1 inhibitors. This is the first out of a number of pre-defined milestones, related to the start of combination or phase II studies as part of the ADC-1013 clinical program, which all together have an aggregated potential value of 35 MUSD.
The licensing agreement with Janssen Biotech Inc. encompasses milestone payments up to a potential total value of USD 695 million. Alligator is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on worldwide net sales upon successful launch and commercialization of ADC-1013.
“We are pleased that our collaboration with Janssen is continuing to progress according to plan”, said Per Norlén, CEO at Alligator Bioscience. “The upcoming combination is a very important step in the continued clinical development. Synergy between ADC-1013 and PD-1 blocking antibodies is supported by pre-clinical data. If this translates to the clinic, it could create new treatment opportunities for many cancer patients”.
Alligator’s partner Janssen Biotech, Inc. is performing a phase I dose-escalation clinical study (ClinicalTrials: NCT02829099) with intravenous administration of JNJ-64457107 (ADC-1013). This study is ongoing with approximately 50 patients recruited to date.
For further information, please contact:
Per Norlén; CEO
Phone: +46 46 286 42 80
E-mail: per.norlen@alligatorbioscience.com
Cecilia Hofvander, Director Investor Relations & Communications
Phone +46 46 286 44 95
E-mail: cecilia.hofvander@alligatorbioscience.com
This press release contains such information as Alligator Bioscience AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 1.30 p.m. CEST on 3 January 2018.
About ADC-1013
ADC-1013 is a drug candidate intended for immunotherapy of different types of cancer. Recent results from a clinical phase I first-in-human study show that ADC-1013 is generally well tolerated supporting the further clinical development of ADC-1013 as a mono- or combination therapy. Pre-clinical data have previously shown that the ADC-1013 antibody effectively activates T-cells, mediated through binding to the co-stimulatory receptor CD40 on dendritic cells. The increased T cell activation enables the immune system to attack the cancer.
About Alligator Bioscience
Alligator Bioscience AB is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing tumor-directed immuno-oncology antibody drugs. Alligator’s growing pipeline includes four lead clinical and pre-clinical drug candidates (ADC-1013, ATOR-1015, ATOR-1017 and ALG.APV-527). ADC-1013 (JNJ-64457107) is licensed to Janssen Biotech, Inc., part of J&J, for global development and commercialization. Alligator’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (ATORX). The Company is headquartered in Lund, Sweden, and has approximately 50 employees. For more information, please visit www.alligatorbioscience.com.