Medarex Inc has stepped into a tie-up with Pfizer Inc that provides for the discovery and development of up to 50 antibody products over ten years. The two companies also cross-licensed certain patents relating to their anti-CTLA-4 antibody programmes. Pursuant to these agreements, Pfizer will make an initial cash payment to Medarex of $80 million and will purchase $30 million of Medarex's common stock at a premium to the market price.
Under the collaboration, Medarex expects to use its UltiMAb human antibody technology to create product candidates to disease-associated targets identified by Pfizer. Pfizer will be fully responsible for the worldwide development and commercialization of any products generated by the collaboration. Medarex has the potential to receive research funding, license fees and milestone payments, if certain milestones are met, exceeding $400 million if all 50 products obtain regulatory approval, as well as royalties on any commercial sales of the products, an official statement from Medarex said.
Medarex and Pfizer have exchanged non-exclusive licenses to patents relating to antibodies to CTLA-4. Pursuant to these license agreements, Medarex has the potential to receive milestone and royalty payments based upon commercial sales of any Pfizer anti-CTLA-4 antibody product. Both companies are independently pursuing the clinical testing of antibodies to CTLA-4, including Medarex's MDX-010 and Pfizer's CP-675, 206. Medarex and Pfizer have retained the commercial rights to their separate anti-CTLA-4 products.
"We have a burgeoning number of antibodies in our research pipeline today and anticipate that their significance to our portfolio will continue to increase," said John LaMattina, president of Pfizer Global Research and Development. "This long-term commitment with Medarex will help us expand our existing antibody research capabilities. Through this global collaboration we expect to create fully human antibody products in a variety of indications that will address several areas of unmet medical need," he added.
"We are gratified that Pfizer has chosen to make such an important commitment to our UltiMAb technology and our research team," Donald L Drakeman, president and CEO of Medarex Inc said adding, "and we look forward to working closely with Pfizer to advance these products as rapidly as possible."
Medarex is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of fully human antibody-based therapeutics to treat life- threatening and debilitating diseases, including cancer, inflammation, autoimmune and infectious diseases.