Biotechnology firm Avacta Group has signed a new development partnership and license agreement with LG Chem Life Sciences, a subsidiary of the South Korean LG Group.
The Wetherby-based firm, which manufactures Affimer biotherapeutics and reagents, has secured a multi-target Affimer therapeutics development deal.
This agreement includes upfront and near-term milestone payments, as well as longer-term clinical development milestones worth $180m in total. LG Chem has agreed to cover Avacta’s research and development costs associated with the collaboration, and Avacta will receive royalties on future product sales.
Under the agreement, Avacta will be responsible for early-stage optimisation of Affimer drug candidates against multiple unnamed targets. LG Chem and Avacta will collaborate to advance these candidates through to drug candidate selection, and then LG Chem will take over for pre-clinical and regulatory studies, plus the clinical development and global marketing for any resulting products.
Avacta Group’s chief executive Alastair Smith said: “I am delighted to be entering into this therapeutic development partnership with LG Chem which is a strong validation of the potential of the Affimer platform.
“This alliance is an exciting opportunity, not only to work with a partner who has first class biologics manufacturing and clinical development capabilities, but who also has a pioneering vision to develop innovative therapies.
“This landmark agreement with LG Chem reflects the substantial progress that we have made in developing the Affimer technology as a therapeutic platform and I look forward to updating the market on future progress and other partnerships.”
President of LG Chem Life Sciences, Dr. Jeewoong Son, added: “Utilizing Avacta’s Affimer technology – a novel non-antibody protein format overcoming limitations of classical antibody-based therapy – and LG Chem’s biologics capability in development and manufacturing, it will take us to the next level of treatment paradigm and to open up a new horizon in biologics therapeutic strategies.
“I believe, this innovative collaboration will deliver value to patients and will transform patients’ lives.”