Spirogen, Genentech enter multi-year ADC research collaboration and license agreement

Spirogen Ltd. ("Spirogen") a leading oncology-focused company developing DNA sequence targeted agents, announced a multi-year research collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY).

The two companies will collaborate on the discovery and development of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) as potential anticancer agents, using Spirogen's proprietary PBD drugs and associated linker technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Spirogen will be primarily responsible for synthesizing and manufacturing drug reagents, while Genentech will use Spirogen's drug reagents to generate ADCs and evaluate their potential therapeutic utility. Genentech will have the exclusive license to fully develop and commercialize licensed products that contain these ADCs.

Terms of the multi-year collaboration include an initial one-off license fee, development milestones on reaching pre-defined targets and further milestones and royalties for licensed products.

"We are hopeful that this collaboration with Genentech will allow us to accelerate the development of ADCs based on our potent PBD drugs with one of the leading companies in the ADC field," said Christopher Martin, CEO of Spirogen.

"We are pleased to enter into this collaboration with Spirogen," said James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of Genentech Partnering. "We believe ADCs have the potential to meaningfully impact the treatment of cancer. Genentech is committed to exploring the biology and clinical potential of ADCs in a variety of tumor types."