Adimab, a monoclonal and bispecific antibody discovery company, and Chinese privately-held biopharmaceutical company Innovent have partnered to discover, develop and commercialise an antibody-based therapeutic.
According to the deal, Adimab will leverage the antibody discovery and optimisation platform in identifying a fully-human therapeutic antibody against an Innovent selected target.
Initial product development activities such as cell line development, formulation, manufacturing and clinical trials will be coordinated by Innovent, while the parties will jointly coordinate the development, manufacture and commercialisation of the therapeutic antibody.
Adimab chief executive officer Tillman Gerngross said, "They have built a remarkable manufacturing infrastructure and we are confident in their ability to develop attractive programmes for the Chinese market."
For the discovery and optimisation of the therapeutic leads, Innovent will compensate Adimab, which will reimburse Innovent for specific development costs.
The rights to develop and commercialise the therapeutic programme will be retained by Innovent in China, with sales-based royalties owed to Adimab, which will retain rights for commercialisation in the US, Europe and Japan with product sales-based royalties owed to Innovent.
Innovent chief executive officer Michael Yu said, "We feel that combining the Adimab platform with Innovent’s strong development and manufacturing capabilities will help us to rapidly build a strong therapeutic pipeline and commercial presence in China."
Meanwhile, Adimab has achieved technical milestones from its ongoing collaborations with Eli Lilly and Company, Gilead and Kyowa Hakko Kirin.
