Transgene, AstraZeneca in exclusive license option deal for new oncolytic immunotherapies

Transgene, AstraZeneca in exclusive license option deal for new oncolytic immunotherapies

May 2, 2019 Off By BusinessWire
    • 5 novel oncolytic immunotherapies will be developed based on
      Transgene’s new Invir.IO
      TM platform
    • Transgene to receive $10 million upon signing and is
      eligible to receive further development milestone payments and
      royalties

STRASBOURG, France–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/InvirIO?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#InvirIOlt;/agt;–Regulatory News:

Transgene (Paris:TNG) (Euronext Paris: TNG), a biotech company that
designs and develops virus-based immunotherapies against cancers and
infectious diseases announces the signing of a collaborative research,
option and exclusive license agreement with AstraZeneca to co-develop
five armed oncolytic vaccinia virus candidates. Innovative oncolytic
viruses resulting from this collaboration will use Transgene’s
proprietary next generation viral platform Invir.IOTM.

Under the terms of the agreement Transgene will contribute its oncolytic
virus expertise, including viral design and engineering, to the
collaboration as well as its novel and improved Vaccinia Virus (TK-,
RR-) double-deleted backbone and will be responsible for in-vitro
pre-clinical development. AstraZeneca will select the transgenes to be
encoded within the virus and will be responsible for further in-vivo
pre-clinical development and, subject to option exercise, clinical
development and commercialization of these novel oncolytic
immunotherapies.

Transgene is to receive $10 million upon signing and additional
pre-clinical success milestones of up to $3 million. Transgene is
eligible to receive an option exercise payment on each candidate in the
event AstraZeneca exercises its license option, as well as development
and commercial milestones and royalties.

Philippe Archinard, PhD, Chairman and CEO of Transgene, said: “We
are pleased to have signed this important collaboration with AstraZeneca
which further validates the potential of our world-leading Invir.IO™
oncolytic virus platform.
We are looking forward to a productive
collaboration with AstraZeneca as we believe the resulting armed
oncolytic virus immunotherapies will provide cancer patients with better
treatment options. In parallel, we will continue the development of our
proprietary Invir.IO™ pipeline and remain on track to deliver multiple
candidates for clinical development in 2020.

Commenting on the agreement, Jean-Charles Soria, Senior Vice
President, Research & Development Oncology at AstraZeneca, said
:
Oncolytic viruses have the potential to be transformational in
oncology by directly causing tumor cell death, and also by delivering a
potent payload in a targeted fashion that increases innate and adaptive
immune system stimulation. AstraZeneca has an exciting portfolio of
molecules that we believe may augment oncolytic virus activity.
Transgene has been a leader in the development of vaccinia viruses for
many years, and this collaboration will allow us to leverage their
platform in the development of novel immunotherapies.

-End-

Notes to editors

About Transgene

Transgene (Euronext: TNG) is a publicly traded French biotechnology
company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for
the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Transgene’s programs
utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly
killing infected or cancerous cells. The Company’s lead clinical-stage
programs are: TG4010, a therapeutic vaccine against non-small cell lung
cancer, Pexa-Vec, an oncolytic virus against liver cancer, and TG4001, a
therapeutic vaccine against HPV-positive head and neck cancers. The
Company has several other programs in clinical development, including
TG1050 (a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B)
and TG6002 (an oncolytic virus for the treatment of solid tumors).

With its proprietary Invir.IOTM, Transgene builds on its
expertise in viral vectors engineering to design a new generation of
multifunctional oncolytic viruses.

myvacTM, an individualized MVA-based immunotherapy
platform designed to integrate neoantigens, completes this innovative
research portfolio. TG4050 is the first candidate selected from
the myvac™ platform.

Additional information about Transgene is available at www.transgene.fr.

Follow us on Twitter: @TransgeneSA

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are
subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual
results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no
guarantee that (i) the results of preclinical work and prior clinical
trials will be predictive of the results of the clinical trials
currently underway, (ii) regulatory authorities will agree with the
Company’s further development plans for its therapies, or (iii) the
Company will find development and commercialization partners for its
therapies in a timely manner and on satisfactory terms and conditions,
if at all. The occurrence of any of these risks could have a significant
negative outcome for the Company’s activities, perspectives, financial
situation, results and development.

For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the
Company’s actual results, financial condition, performance or
achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking
statements, please refer to the Risk Factors (“Facteurs de Risques”)
section of the Document de Reìfeìrence, available on the AMF website (
http://www.amf-france.org)
or on Transgene’s website (
www.transgene.fr).
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are
made, and Transgene undertakes no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in
the future.

Contacts

Transgene:
Lucie Larguier
+33 (0)3 88 27 91 21
[email protected]

Media: Citigate Dewe Rogerson
EU: David Dible/Sylvie Berrebi
US:
Marine Perrier-Barthez
+ 44 (0)20 7638 9571 / +1 424 341 9140
[email protected]