Jacobio Pharmaceuticals said it expected to receive an upfront payment of US$100 million from AstraZeneca, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on December 21.
The British-Swedish drugmaker was paying for exclusive rights to research, develop, register, manufacture and commercialise Jacobio’s experimental cancer therapy JAB-23E73 in markets worldwide, excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Jacobio could also earn up to US$1.92 billion in milestone payments linked to development, regulatory and commercial targets, and would receive tiered royalties on sales.
JAB-23E73 is an oral pill designed to inhibit KRAS, a mutated protein that can fuel tumour growth, while sparing closely related “good” proteins – an approach intended to reduce side effects.
The drug is currently in Phase I human trials in China and the United States.
Coherent Biopharma, meanwhile, had also struck a cross-border partnership, signing an exclusive licensing deal on December 22 with US-based MultiValent Biotherapies for CBP-1018, a prostate cancer candidate.
