Exelixis, Inc. and WuXi Biologics announced the companies have entered into an exclusive license agreement to support the continued expansion of Exelixis’ oncology biologics pipeline. The agreement is the latest in a series of biologics-focused transactions for Exelixis as the company builds out its pipeline behind CABOMETYX (cabozantinib), its flagship product and global oncology franchise, which received its fourth approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January.
Under the terms of the agreement, Exelixis will make a modest upfront payment to WuXi Bio in exchange for an exclusive license to a panel of monoclonal antibodies to a preclinically validated target, discovered based on WuXi Bio’s integrated technology platforms, for the development of antibody-drug conjugate, bispecific, and certain other novel tumor-targeting biologics applications. WuXi Bio will be eligible for development and commercialization milestones, as well as tiered royalties on net sales of any potential products commercialized from the panel.
“Exelixis is pursuing a broad range of targets and therapeutic modalities to maximize the potential of our biologics pipeline to help patients with cancer,” said Peter Lamb, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Scientific Strategy and Chief Scientific Officer of Exelixis. “Our agreement with WuXi Bio enhances our growing biotherapeutics portfolio by providing an approach to a preclinically validated target that has already shown early clinical potential in cancer. We’re looking forward to building on WuXi Bio’s significant technical foundation and applying our own expertise as we bring this promising program into the Exelixis discovery organization.”
“We’re glad to support Exelixis’ growing biotherapeutics pipeline with antibodies discovered through our integrated biologics technology platforms,” said Dr. Chris Chen, Chief Executive Officer of WuXi Biologics. “WuXi Biologics will continue to develop globally leading next-generation technologies to accelerate and transform biologics discovery, development and manufacturing. With globally recognized technical capabilities and unparalleled capacities, we are transforming how biologics are developed in the global setting.”