Syntiron grants sanofi pasteur exclusive world-wide license to its human vaccine against MRSA

Dec 16 2009

Syntiron today announced that it has granted sanofi pasteur an exclusive world-wide license to its human vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus. The agreement includes an undisclosed initial licensing fee, milestone payments and royalty payments on future sales of the product. Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA (pronounced Mer-sa) is an important hospital-acquired infection and is a major cause of illness and death resulting in excess of 18,000 US deaths a year and a half million hospitalizations, creating a significant economic burden of approximately $3.4 billion annually to the American health care system.

Syntiron is a private biotech company located in St. Paul, Minnesota; its mission is the prevention and treatment of human disease resulting from bacterial infection. Under the terms of the agreement, sanofi pasteur will support the joint, pre-clinical development of the product, working cooperatively with Syntiron, and be responsible for all future developments, regulatory approval, and commercialization of the vaccine. Neither company spelled out the terms, but Syntiron gets an upfront payment, research funding and is eligible for development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments that could reach $149 million in total. Syntiron also stands to earn royalties on sales of products commercialized under the license and collaboration.