Alligator Bioscience announces Immuno-oncology Research Collaboration and License Agreement with Orion Corporation

Alligator Bioscience announced that the company has entered into a research collaboration and license agreement with Orion Corporation, a global pharmaceutical company based in Finland, to discover and develop together new bispecific antibody cancer therapeutics

The research collaboration will focus on the discovery of novel bispecific antibodies directed towards immuno-oncology targets selected by Orion. The agreement covers an option to develop three bispecific antibodies. Under the agreement, Alligator Bioscience will employ its proprietary phage display libraries and RUBY™ bispecific platform to develop immuno-oncology product candidates based on design criteria identified by Orion.

During the initial research period of the collaboration, Alligator Bioscience will receive an upfront payment and research support payments.  Additionally, as part of the agreement, Alligator Bioscience is eligible for development, approval and sales milestone payments of up to 469 million euros, in addition to royalties if Orion exercises its options to continue development and commercialization of the resulting product candidates.

Outi Vaarala, Senior Vice President, R&D, Orion, said: “We are particularly pleased with this collaboration with Alligator Bioscience to develop new immuno-oncology treatments mobilizing the immune system to eliminate cancer cells. Bispecific antibodies provide as a tool many advantages for the next generation immuno-oncology treatments with improved efficacy, particularly in the cancer patients who do not respond to the present available therapeutics.”

“We are excited to enter into this collaborative research program which combines Alligator Bioscience’s expertise in antibody discovery and immuno-oncology development with Orion’s insights into novel immuno-oncology approaches and welcomed the opportunity to work with Orion,” said Søren Bregenholt, CEO of Alligator Bioscience. Bregenholt continued, “This agreement validates that Alligator Bioscience’s extensive range of phage display libraries and our RUBY bispecific platform offer a solid foundation to identify and develop high quality first-in-class therapeutic antibodies with excellent manufacturability characteristics.”