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news.arGEN-X, a Dutch biopharmaceutical firm focused on developing differentiated therapeutic antibodies to treat cancer and severe autoimmune diseases, has entered into a long-term strategic alliance with Shire Pharmaceuticals.
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As part of the deal, arGEN-X will bring its entire suite of human antibody discovery technologies to a partnership focused on multiple targets aligned with Shire’s therapeutic focus.
The deal aimed at helping augment the Shire development pipeline follows an initial research and development collaboration undertaken in March 2012.
arGEN-X CEO Tim Van Hauwermeiren said the company’s partnering philosophy is to create alliances for the long term with select, top tier companies.
"We have certainly upheld this principle by repeatedly expanding our collaboration with Shire, with today’s announcement marking our most ambitious and exciting venture with them to date," Hauwermeiren said.
"We have enjoyed consistent success in our collaboration, recognizing important synergies in combining our strengths and capabilities.
"While we continue to see Shire as our development partner in this new alliance, we value this opportunity to bring programs into our own pipeline to further our ambitions as a clinical stage, product-focused company."
The deal will see Shire make a total upfront investment of €15m in arGEN-X, consisting of €3m in cash and €12m in equity.
Additionally, Shire will fund the collaborative research programs at arGEN-X and pay fees, clinical, regulatory and sales milestones, as well as single digit royalties on therapeutic product sales.
Shire will also be responsible for clinical development and commercialization of products, with arGEN-X having the right to license any programs not pursued by Shire into its own development pipeline.