Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of products under development directed towards the treatment of cancer, viruses and other diseases, has entered into a license agreement with Medarex, Inc.

Under the agreement, the company licensed to Medarex certain intellectual property rights under its broad Vascular Targeting Agent technology platform. This license allows Medarex to develop and commercialize their anti-PSMA monoclonal antibody conjugated to therapeutic agents and use the resulting conjugate for the treatment of a wide range of solid tumours.

Under the terms of the agreement, Peregrine Pharmaceuticals will receive an upfront payment and annual maintenance fees and may receive future payments based on the achievement of clinical milestones and a royalty on net sales if a product developed under the agreement is approved under the FDA. Further financial details were not disclosed.

The VTA technology is based on the concept that virtually all detectable tumours rely on a vascular network to obtain oxygen and nutrients. Peregrine's Vascular Targeting Agent technology platform is comprised of broad intellectual property rights covering products that selectively bind to components of tumour vasculature and deliver a therapeutic payload that causes damage to the tumour vasculature resulting in an avalanche of tumour cell death.