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Aphton to Expand Licensing and Commercialization Agreements Into Europe for two Antibodies

09 Feb 2006 - Aphton Corporation announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Igeneon, signed a letter of intent with Celltrion to amend their existing licensing and commercialization agreements for the clinical product candidate, IGN311, a humanized monoclonal antibody against the Lewis-Y carbohydrate antigen and Igeneon's next-generation antibody, IGN312.
 
Under the original agreements, which closed in November 2005, Igeneon granted Celltrion an exclusive license to commercialize IGN311 in certain Asian countries, including Japan, in exchange for future milestone payments and royalties from Celltrion. In addition, under the original agreements, Celltrion will provide development and manufacturing services related to the optimization and upscaling of IGN311 as well as material for further clinical development.
 
Under the terms of the letter of intent, Igeneon would expand the existing license to permit Celltrion to commercialize IGN311 in Europe as well as grant Celltrion an additional license to commercialize Igeneon's next-generation antibody, IGN312, in Europe and certain countries in Asia, including Japan. In addition, for a period of time to be determined, Celltrion would have a right of first refusal to further develop and commercialize IGN101, which is Igeneon's cancer vaccine that is currently in a 760 patient Phase II/III clinical trial. In return, Igeneon would receive from Celltrion an up front payment of $5 million and milestone payments of up to $15 million.In addition, Igeneon would receive royalties on sales of each product in both territories and Celltrion would assume all clinical development costs for IGN311 in both territories. The companies intend to initiate Phase I and Phase II clinical trials of IGN311 in Asia in the near future.
 
The signing of the definitive agreement is pending approval of the Boards of Directors of both Aphton and Celltrion.