On November 30, 2022 BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX, "BioNTech") and Ryvu Therapeutics S.A. (Warsaw Stock Exchange: RVU, "Ryvu"), a clinical-stage company developing oncology therapeutics reported that the companies have entered into a multi-target research collaboration for several small molecule immunotherapy programs as well as an exclusive license agreement for Ryvu’s STING agonist portfolio as standalone small molecules (Press release, BioNTech, NOV 30, 2022, View Source [SID1234624593]).
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The global collaboration will consist of two parts: BioNTech will receive a global, exclusive license to develop and commercialize Ryvu’s STING agonist portfolio as standalone small molecules, including as monotherapy and in therapeutic combinations. In addition, BioNTech and Ryvu will jointly undertake drug discovery and research projects to develop multiple small molecule programs directed at exclusive targets selected by BioNTech, primarily focused on immune modulation within oncology, with potential applications in other disease areas. BioNTech has the option to license global development and commercialization rights to these programs at the development candidate stage.
"Small molecules targeting novel immune signaling pathways have a great potential to increase the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies," said Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of BioNTech. "The collaboration with Ryvu provides us with the opportunity to complement our immunotherapy pipeline with a portfolio of potent immunomodulatory molecules."
"Ryvu is excited to bring its expertise in immuno-oncology to work with a global leader in the development of immunomodulatory targeted therapies," said Paweł Przewięźlikowski, Chief Executive Officer, Ryvu. "BioNTech’s expertise in immunomodulatory mechanisms is a great match for Ryvu’s platform, and we fully expect to develop differentiated, therapeutically effective and safe molecules with our combined expertise."
Under the terms of the agreement, BioNTech will pay Ryvu an upfront fee of €20 million in exchange for certain rights to Ryvu’s STING agonist portfolio as standalone small molecules and for certain rights and options to license multiple small molecule programs as part of a multi-target research collaboration. In addition, BioNTech has committed to make an equity investment of €20 million.
BioNTech will fund all discovery, research and development activities, including Ryvu’s discovery and research activities under the multi-target research collaboration. Ryvu will be eligible to receive success-based development, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments, as well as low single-digit royalties on the annual net sales of any products that are successfully commercialized under the collaboration.
About STING Agonists
The STING pathway plays a critical role during infections and autoimmune disease, but also is one of the key innate immunity pathways responsible for antitumor immunity, as it’s activated by tumor derived DNA. Therefore, therapeutic targeting of STING is a potential new target for cancer therapies as it leads to potent activation of innate and adaptive immune response. In preclinical studies, as presented at SITC (Free SITC Whitepaper) 2021 and AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2021, Ryvu’s STING agonists activated all STING haplotypes and led to high activation of proinflammatory cytokine production and long-lasting immune responses after systemic administration in vivo.