The terms of an exclusive License Agreement, inclusive of an upfront payment and potential development and regulatory milestone payments over the life of the agreement, may exceed US$125 million.
Diaprost announced today that it has agreed terms for an exclusive Licensing Agreement with Radiopharm Theranostics (RAD); an Australian based biotech startup, focused on building an innovative and differentiated pipeline of radiopharmaceutical products for both diagnostic and therapeutic uses. RAD has recently raised A$20 million to progress a portfolio of radiopharmaceutical assets that have the potential to be first to market or best in class in their respective disease areas. The Diaprost asset is one of four distinct & clearly differentiated platform technologies.
The Diaprost pipeline is focused on humanised antibodies for diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceutical applications. The hu5A10 antibody enables non-invasive detection and therapy by delivering radionuclides to prostate cancer cells. The platform’s targeting mechanism utilizes binding to Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), a well-established biomarker previously only applied for diagnostic blood tests.
The imaging modalities based on hu5A10, which were developed together with Lasker Award recipient Charles Sawyers, demonstrate superior specificities in diagnosing prostate cancer cell occurrence and an unparalleled ability to detect disease activity. When employing hu5A10 with a Therapeutic Isotope, results clearly demonstrate specific and effective prostate cancer cell eradication. The combination of imaging and radioimmunotherapy, based on the same antibody, enables a powerful tool for both diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Under the terms of the agreement RAD will have exclusive responsibility to manufacture, develop and commercialise hu5A10 worldwide. Upfront and near-term payments of US$10M are part of a financial package that over the life of the agreement could exceed US$125M, if all development and regulatory goals are met.
“We believe the Licensing Agreement with Radiopharm Theranostics, founded by the experienced Australian life sciences industry figure Paul Hopper, represents a focused route to maximizing the potential of both Diaprost and the hu5A10 program,” said Johan Drott, the CEO of Diaprost. “RAD has established a strong management team with recognised experts to focus on the development of radiopharmaceutical products for diagnostic and therapeutic uses in areas of high unmet medical needs.”
About Diaprost
Diaprost was founded in 2005 based on the idea that the transformative success of the PSA assay for detection of prostate cancer could be leveraged as a personalized theranostic (therapy and diagnostic) platform. The technology and patent applications were pursued by researchers at Lund University in Sweden with support from private investors. Diaprost is collaborating with leading international experts in the fields of molecular medicine, biotechnology, immunology, radiology, radiation physics, laboratory medicine and oncology. Diaprost have an agreement with a Top 10 pharma company for its first antibody h11B6 targeting the hK2 antigen, which is in early clinical development.
Plexsus Consulting Services Ltd acted as business advisors to Diaprost and Legal advice was provided by Covington & Burling LLP.
Disclaimer
Certain information set forth in this announcement contains “forward-looking information”. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. This announcement is made on behalf of Diaprost AB and not on behalf of any third party.
For more information, please contact:
Johan Drott, CEO, Diaprost AB
+46 709 224 140
johan.drott@diaprost.com