BioInvent International AB has entered into a licence and discovery agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited for the development of therapeutic antibodies against multiple targets. Under the terms of the collaboration, Daiichi Sankyo will be granted broad access to BioInvent's discovery and development technology platform and in house antibody expertise. As part of the agreement, BioInvent has secured certain co-promotion rights in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries.

BioInvent will receive an upfront access fee and annual maintenance fees for its antibody library, and success-based milestone payments. In addition, Daiichi Sankyo will also fund all research work and BioInvent is entitled to royalties on any commercialised products, as well as benefiting from the opportunity for selective co-promotion.

As well as gaining access to BioInvent's proprietary n-CoDeR library for the discovery of human monoclonal antibodies, Daiichi Sankyo will also benefit from BioInvent's in-house pre-clinical antibody skills. The n-CoDe R library contains more than 20 billion (2 x 1010) highly diverse, fully human antibody fragments that have been created using BioInvent's patented technology platform, generating antibodies with high affinity and selectivity.

As well as working with Daiichi Sankyo in Japan, BioInvent will also work with Daiichi Sankyo's German affiliate U3 Pharma GmbH. The discovery and development process will be governed by a joint steering committee.

Svein Mathisen, CEO of BioInvent, commented, "We are pleased that our technology platform and expertise continue to attract the attention and long term commitment of big pharma. BioInvent is established as a trusted partner for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies, and with this agreement we are continuing to grow our presence and recognition in the Japanese market."

BioInvent International AB is a research-based pharmaceutical company that focuses on developing antibody drugs. The company is currently running innovative drug projects within the areas of thrombosis, cancer and atherosclerosis.