HQ Team
January 7, 2023: Moderna, a US-based biotechnology company, announced a $35 million licensing deal with cancer-focused drugmaker CytomX to develop messenger RNA therapies.
CytomX Therapeutics will receive an upfront payment of $35 million, including $5 million of pre-paid research funding, according to a Moderna statement.
The California-based CytomX will also continue receiving research funding and is eligible for up to approximately $1.2 billion in future development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments.
CytomX is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on global net sales of any products that are commercialized under the agreement.
Moderna and CytomX will collaborate on the discovery, and pre-clinical development and Moderna will lead the clinical development and commercialization of Therapeutics resulting from the agreement.
Future equity
The agreement additionally provides Moderna with an option to participate in future equity financing by CytomX.
Both companies will create investigational mRNA-based conditionally activated therapies utilizing Moderna’s mRNA technologies and CytomX’s Probody therapeutic platform.
The messenger RNA molecules carry the genetic information needed to make proteins. They take the data from the DNA in the cell’s nucleus to the cytoplasm, where the proteins are made.
Moderna’s mRNA science has helped in the development of Therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, rare diseases, and autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases.
CytomX’s technology enables proteins to be activated locally in diseased tissue while remaining masked in systemic circulation.
“Moderna and CytomX have a shared vision of investing at the intersection of biology and technology to transform the lives of patients, and this collaboration will expand applications of our growing therapeutics pipeline,” said Rose Loughlin, PhD, Moderna’s Senior Vice President for Research and Early Development.
CytomX collaborates with multiple oncology leaders, including AbbVie, Amgen, Astellas, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Regeneron.
