Roche’s Genentech terminates licencing deal with Norwegian biotech
Av The California-based company, a Roche subsidiary, signed a licensing deal in 2020 to investigate the cancer vaccine candidate VB10.Neo. For that, Genentech paid $200 million upfront, with potential additional milestone payments of $515 million. But now Genentech chooses to end the collaboration at the turn of the year and return the project to Nykode, which thus regains the rights for the project.
“Nykode is not required to refund any upfront payments or make any future payments to Genentech on the termination”, Nykode writes in a press release.
In a webcast on Friday, Nykode CEO Michael Ensig said that he believes that the decision to end the collaboration was made high up in Roche's management, and should be seen as a result of an assessment of their overall portfolio of activities.
– The important thing for us and all shareholders is that the termination of the agreement does not contain references to clinical data, aspects of the technology platform or observed side effects. There is nothing in the termination notice that affects our belief in VB10.Neo's potential, he said, according to Norwegian Medwatch.
VB10.Neo has been tested in two clinical trials, including a phase-1b combination study with Roche's immune checkpoint inhibitor Tecentriq. That study, which included patients with locally advanced and metastatic tumors, was designed and conducted in collaboration with Genentech, and is currently in its final stages.
According to Michael Ensig, the company will determine the optimal path forward for the program, including potential new partnerships,
The terminated collaboration is the second setback in a short time for Nykode. At the end of August, the company announced that it had decided to cancel a study on a vaccine against cervical cancer, and that as a result it was forced to lay off a fifth of the staff.
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