BioNTech and Crescendo Biologics Announce Global Collaboration to
Develop Multi-specific Precision Immunotherapies
- Collaboration leverages BioNTech’s proprietary multimodal
immunotherapy expertise with Crescendo’s proprietary Humabody® VH
platform to develop precision immunotherapies, including mRNA-based
antibodies and engineered cell therapies against targets selected
by BioNTech
- BioNTech will hold exclusive worldwide development and
commercialization rights to all immunotherapies arising from the
collaboration
- Crescendo will receive $40 million upfront, including a cash
payment and an equity investment from BioNTech, as well as research
funding, and will be eligible to receive development, regulatory
and commercial milestone payments up to a total of more than $750
million, plus tiered royalties on global net sales
MAINZ, Germany and CAMBRIDGE, UK, January 10,
2022 – BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX, “BioNTech”) and Crescendo
Biologics Ltd (“Crescendo”), a clinical stage immuno-oncology
company developing novel, targeted T cell enhancing therapeutics,
today announced that they have entered a multi-target discovery
collaboration to develop novel immunotherapies for the treatment of
patients with cancer and other diseases. The initial term of the
discovery collaboration is three years.
Crescendo will contribute its unique,
proprietary, transgenic platform to deliver fully human heavy-chain
antibody domains (Humabody® VH) against targets nominated by
BioNTech. Humabodies represent a novel class of therapeutics that
retain the high-affinity binding and specificity of conventional
therapeutic antibodies while providing additional advantages such
as small size, enhanced tissue and tumor penetration, stability and
molecular simplicity due to the lack of a light chain. In
particular, the modular nature of Humabodies make them ideally
suited for the development of multi-target immunotherapies.
“Crescendo’s platform provides excellent
properties for exploiting novel targets and target combinations
which we believe has great potential for the development of
multi-specific mRNA and engineered cell-based therapies in a
variety of disease areas,” said Ugur Sahin, M.D., Chief
Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BioNTech. “We are excited
to begin working with Crescendo to further strengthen and expand
our multimodal immunotherapy portfolio and deliver breakthrough
precision medicines for patients.”
“To collaborate with BioNTech and their
world-class team is a transformational opportunity for Crescendo.
We are looking forward to further leveraging our clinically
validated Humabody VH platform within mRNA therapeutics to develop
better treatment options for patients,” said Theodora Harold,
Chief Executive Officer at Crescendo Biologics.
Under the terms of the agreement, Crescendo will
receive $40 million upfront, including a cash payment and an equity
investment from BioNTech, as well as research funding for the
period of the collaboration. BioNTech will be responsible for
global development and hold exclusive worldwide commercialization
rights on any products arising from the collaboration. Crescendo
will be eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial
milestones up to a total of more than $750 million, in addition to
tiered royalties on global net sales.
About BioNTechBiopharmaceutical New
Technologies is a next generation immunotherapy company pioneering
novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. The Company
exploits a wide array of computational discovery and therapeutic
drug platforms for the rapid development of novel
biopharmaceuticals. Its broad portfolio of oncology product
candidates includes individualized and off-the-shelf mRNA-based
therapies, innovative chimeric antigen receptor T cells,
bi-specific checkpoint immuno-modulators, targeted cancer
antibodies and small molecules. Based on its deep expertise in mRNA
vaccine development and in-house manufacturing capabilities,
BioNTech and its collaborators are developing multiple mRNA vaccine
candidates for a range of infectious diseases alongside its diverse
oncology pipeline. BioNTech has established a broad set of
relationships with multiple global pharmaceutical collaborators,
including Genmab, Sanofi, Bayer Animal Health, Genentech, a member
of the Roche Group, Regeneron, Genevant, Fosun Pharma, and Pfizer.
For more information, please visit www.BioNTech.de.
About Crescendo Biologics Crescendo
Biologics is a private, clinical stage immuno-oncology company
developing novel, targeted T cell enhancing Humabody®
therapeutics.
Leading its proprietary pipeline, Crescendo
Biologics has developed CB307, a novel half-life extended CD137 x
PSMA Humabody® for the selective activation of tumour-specific T
cells exclusively within the tumour microenvironment. CB307 is
designed to achieve a longer lasting anti-cancer effect whilst
avoiding systemic toxicity, and the clinical programme for CB307 is
underway in patients with PSMA positive solid tumours.
The Company’s ability to develop
multi-functional Humabody® therapeutics is based on its unique,
patent protected, transgenic mouse platform generating fully human
VH domain building blocks (Humabody® VH). These robust molecules
can be configured to engage therapeutic targets in such a way that
they deliver novel pharmacology and superior bio-distribution. This
can lead to larger therapeutic windows compared to conventional IgG
approaches. Humabody®-based formats can also be applied across a
range of non-cancer indications.
Beyond Crescendo’s proprietary pipeline, the
Company has a global, multi-target discovery and development
collaboration with Takeda; a clinical development partnership for
CB213 (a PD-1xLAG-3 multi-specific Humabody®) with Cancer Research
UK; and an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement with Zai Lab
for ZL-1102 (formerly CB001, an anti-IL-17A targeting Humabody®),
which has recently successfully completed a Phase 1 clinical
trial.
Crescendo Biologics is located in Cambridge, UK,
and is backed by blue-chip investors including Sofinnova Partners,
Andera Partners, IP Group, Takeda Ventures, Quan Capital and
Astellas.
For more information, please visit
www.crescendobiologics.com and follow @HUMABODY.
BioNTech Forward-Looking StatementsThis
press release contains “forward-looking statements” of BioNTech
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. These forward-looking statements may include, but may not
be limited to, statements concerning: BioNTech’s collaboration with
Crescendo Biologics; the ability of Crescendo’s Humabody® VH
discovery platform to develop multi-specific immunotherapies,
including cell therapies; and the ability of BioNTech to
commercialize these immunotherapies, if successfully developed.Any
forward-looking statements in this press release are based on
BioNTech current expectations and beliefs of future events and are
subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set
forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements.
For a discussion of these and other risks and
uncertainties, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in
BioNTech’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the Year Ended December
31, 2020, filed with the SEC on March 30, 2021, which is available
on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. All information in this press
release is as of the date of the release, and BioNTech undertakes
no duty to update this information unless required by law.
CONTACTS
BioNTechInvestor RelationsSylke Maas,
Ph.D.+49 (0)6131 9084 1074Investors@biontech.de
Media RelationsJasmina Alatovic+49 (0)6131 9084
1513Media@biontech.de
Crescendo BiologicsMichael Booth,
CFO +44 (0)1223 497140
investors@crescendobiologics.commedia@crescendobiologics.com
Instinctif PartnersMelanie Toyne-Sewell,
Katie Duffell, Nathan Billis+44 (0)20 7457 2020
crescendo@instinctif.com
BioNTech (TG:22UA)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Abr 2024 até Mai 2024
BioNTech (TG:22UA)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Mai 2023 até Mai 2024