IMBiologics inks $964 mn license deal with U.S. firm

[Courtesy of IMBiologics]

South Korean antibody drug startup IMBiologics announced on Monday that it signed a license deal for two autoimmune disease treatment candidates with Navigator Medicines in the United States.

The contract is valued at about 1.3 trillion won ($964 million), inclusive of upfront payments and milestone-based fees.

The treatment candidates were co-developed by IMBiologics in partnership with two other Korean companies, HK inno.N and YBiologics, with that deal including an upfront payment of $20 million and additional milestone payments totaling up to $944.75 million. Royalties based on annual net sales post-commercialization are not included in this figure.

The transferred substances are IMB-101, a bispecific antibody targeting both the autoimmune disease antibody OX40L and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and IMB-102, a monospecific antibody that only targets OX40L.

Under the agreement, Navigator Medicines will hold the rights to develop and commercialize these candidates globally outside Asia but including Japan.