A Newcastle biotech business has signed a technology-transfer deal with a Korean pharmaceutical firm which could be worth £730m.
Iksuda Therapeutics has signed a license and commercialisation agreement with LegoChem Biosciences (LCB) which will see the Daejeon-based company tap further into the Tyneside firm’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology.
ADCs target tumour cells and poisons them and Iksuda’s ADC programmes target tumours that currently have limited treatment options and high-relapse rates.
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Under the terms of the agreement, first announced by the Kosdaq-listed firm at the end of last month, Iksuda will get exclusive rights to develop and market LCB’s cancer treatment drug, currently known as LCB14 in most countries, while LCB will keep the rights in China and Korea.
The agreement includes development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments to LCB contingent on successful achievement of certain milestones as well as royalties, based on the drug’s future commercial sales.
Iksuda Therapeutics did not disclose financial details of the arrangement, but documents published on the Korean listed firm’s website reveal the total contract is worth up to 1.186 trillion Korean Won, around £730m, plus royalties and profit-sharing in terms of the technology transfer between the two companies.
It also includes an upfront payment of $50m, around £36.8m.
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The milestone payments by development stage total $950m, around £699m.
The drug is currently in phase one clinical trials in China and Iksuda anticipates that LCB14, now designated IKS014, will enter a phase one clinical trial programme in the US during the third quarter of this year.
First-phase trials usually last between a year and 18 months and focus on drug safety rather than how effective they are.
In China, the drug is under license from the Korean company to Fosun Pharma which is currently conducting a phase one clinical trial in China in patients with breast cancer.
Phase two trials in HER2-positive gastric cancer patients are planned for 2022.
Iksuda - named as one of the five North East firms to watch by The Journal and BusinessLive - said the agreement with LegoChem Biosciences will allow it to further expand its clinical development pipeline. The Newcastle Helix-based business is also rapidly expanding its pre-clinical pipeline.
The announcement comes seven months after Iksuda announced the completion of a $47m (around £34m) financing round, co-led by Mirae Asset Capital and its subsidiaries, South Korean drug developer Celltrion and Premier Partners.
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The firm is using the money to fund human clinical trials of its lead cancer drug, IKSO3, in the first half of this year, as well as expand its platform technologies.
Dr Dave Simpson, chief executive of Iksuda Therapeutics, said: “This agreement further demonstrates Iksuda’s commitment to the development of differentiated ADCs that will potentially bring benefit to patients living with cancer. Importantly, it is also further recognition of the unmatched expertise of our team.
“We continue to focus on delivering our strategy of driving potentially valuable therapies through the clinic for cancer indications with high burden and for where there are limited treatment options.
“Our wholly-owned pipeline is supplemented with in-licensed assets where we been able leverage our expertise to recognise promising opportunities from others to partner and then develop further, utilising our armoury of [proprietary] payload and conjugation platforms where necessary.”
Dr Young-Lag Cho, chief development officer and vice-president of LegoChem Biosciences, said: “Iksuda is the best partner for the expedited development of HER2 ADC.
"Learning from Iksuda’s world-class expertise and experience on ADC development by jointly conducting phase one trial in US will strengthen our internal development capabilities while accelerating advancement of our other ADC programs.”
The deal comes almost two years after a research collaboration and license agreement was announced by Iksuda Therapeutics and LBC, for the development of antibody-drug conjugates in oncology.
Yong-Zu Kim, chief executive of LegoChem Biosciences, added: “Recognising Iksuda’s depth of knowledge within the field of ADCs we are pleased to once again expand our relationship and our continued efforts to develop a broad pipeline of pre-clinical and clinical opportunities.”