Syncromune, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of combination intratumoral immunotherapy announced that the Company has signed an exclusive worldwide license agreement for YH002 (OX40 antibody) and two other active ingredients with Eucure (Beijing) Biopharma Co., Ltd. (“Eucure”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (“Biocytogen”).
Under the terms of the agreement, Syncromune will acquire global rights of development and commercialization of the intratumoral combination therapy containing Eucure’s YH002 and two other active ingredients as part of the Syncrovax™ therapy. Pursuant to the agreement, Eucure has the potential to receive hundreds of millions of US dollars, including an upfront cash payment that reflects the projected clinical value of the molecules, significant development and regulatory milestone payments, as well as royalties and other incentives based on the long-term commercial value of the Syncrovax™ combination therapy. Eucure will be responsible for drug manufacturing and supply, and Syncromune will be responsible for clinical development and commercialization.
The Syncrovax™ platform is a next-generation personalized cancer therapy being developed to optimize intratumoral immunotherapy for the treatment of metastatic solid tumor cancers. The technology aims to generate a personalized autologous cancer vaccine using a patient’s own cancer antigens. This new approach to fighting cancer is designed to generate a robust anti-cancer response by overcoming the immunosuppressive characteristics of metastatic cancers and addressing the limitations of current systemic immunotherapies. Syncromune intends to initially develop combination therapies for metastatic breast, prostate, and lung cancer, with a robust pipeline aimed at six additional target cancers.
“We are excited to enter into an exclusive licensing agreement with Eucure/Biocytogen,” said Eamonn Hobbs, President and Chief Executive Officer of Syncromune. “This license agreement is an important step in the development of our proprietary Syncrovax™ platform and further supports Syncromune’s strategy to maximize our platform to build a sustainable cancer therapeutics company.”
“We believe the antibodies developed with Biocytogen’s unique platform may provide competitive advantages,” said Charles Link, M.D., Executive Chairman and Chief Medical Officer of Syncromune. “The preclinical data suggests that these second-generation molecules might have best-in-class potential.”
“YH002 is a co-stimulating molecule for the OX40 target which has shown favorable safety and promising anti-tumor activity against solid tumors, ” said Rong Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Eucure, and Vice President of Biocytogen. “We are excited to collaborate with Syncromune to realize the potential in intratumoral immunotherapy.”