Adimab Scores Two Deals And Some Milestone Payments

Adimab had multiple announcements today, including therapeutic discovery deals with Innovent and also Celgene and the receipt of milestone payments from existing collaborators.

Under the terms of its deal with Innovent, Adimab will utilize its antibody discovery and optimization platform to identify a fully human therapeutic antibody against a target selected by Innovent. All initial product development, including manufacturing and clinical trials, will be coordinated by Innovent. Both companies will retain rights to develop and commercialize the therapeutic program in their respective geographic territories.

Innovent will retain rights for commercialization in China, with royalties owed to Adimab on product sales. Adimab will retain rights for commercialization in the United States, Europe, and Japan, with royalties owed to Innovent on product sales.

With Celgene, the partnership is broader. Adimab will generate therapeutic antibodies against multiple targets, and Celgene will have the right to develop and commercialize all resulting therapeutic antibodies.

For each target, Celgene has the right to research antibodies generated during the collaboration for potential use as therapeutic products. Under the terms of the agreement, Adimab will receive an up-front payment. In addition, for each target, Celgene will have the option to exclusively license antibodies generated during the collaboration. If Celgene exercises its option for a particular target, Adimab would receive license fees, clinical milestones, and royalties on therapeutic product sales.

In addition, Adimab reported the achievement of milestone payments from its ongoing collaborations with Eli Lilly and Kyowa Hakko Kirin. It relationship with Eli Lilly commenced in December 2010, and its partnership with Kyowa Hakko Kirin in January this year.