Dec 1 2009
Trellis Bioscience, Inc. announced today the granting of a worldwide exclusive license to MedImmune, LLC, the global biologics unit of AstraZeneca, to develop and commercialize Trellis’ antibodies directed against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Under the terms of the agreement, MedImmune will pay Trellis an upfront cash payment upon signing, as well as additional payments for potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. The total payments have the potential to reach $338 million should a product resulting from this licensing agreement reach the market. MedImmune will be responsible for all preclinical and clinical development and commercialization of Trellis’s RSV antibodies worldwide. MedImmune will also pay Trellis royalty payments based on worldwide product sales.
The RSV antibodies were discovered using Trellis’ proprietary CellSpotTM discovery platform, which allows high throughput screening of human B-cells in a multiplexed format, thus enabling rapid identification and isolation of extremely rare human antibodies produced from the B-cells of RSV infected patients.
“We are excited to partner our unique anti-RSV antibodies with MedImmune,” commented James Posada, chief business officer of Trellis. “Given the company’s deep expertise in the field of RSV, we believe MedImmune is the best possible partner for this molecule.”
“The discovery of these antibodies further validates the Trellis CellSpot platform and its ability to screen millions of human B cells to identify very rare human antibodies generated by the human body to fight infection, in this case RSV,” added Stote Ellsworth president and chief technology officer of Trellis.
Source Trellis Bioscience
Breast milk antibodies linked to protection against rotavirus in infants