Amunix Announces Licensing Agreement with Merck for ProTIA Immune Activator Platform
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – January 3, 2019 – Amunix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Amunix”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel immuno-oncology therapeutics, today announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, for rights to develop therapeutics against an undisclosed target using Amunix’s proprietary protease-triggered immune activator (ProTIA) technology platform.
“We are very pleased to enter into the collaboration with Merck, an acknowledged leader in the field of novel cancer therapeutics,” said Volker Schellenberger, Ph.D., President and CTO of Amunix. “The agreement with Merck is a testament to Amunix’s protein engineering expertise reflected in our ProTIA platform. This powerful new platform technology enables the rapid generation of tumor activatable cytokines, signaling peptides/proteins or immune cell engagers. We look forward to a productive and successful relationship.”
“Amunix’s ProTIA technology offers the potential to create novel tumor-targeted molecules for evaluation in our immuno-oncology clinical development programs,” said Rob Kastelein, Ph.D., Associate Vice President, Immune-Oncology Discovery, Merck Research Laboratories. “We look forward to working with the Amunix team.”
Under terms of the agreement, Amunix will receive an upfront payment from Merck and is eligible to receive payments associated with the achievement of certain developmental milestones as well as royalties on sales of any products derived from the collaboration. Further financial details were not disclosed.
About Amunix Pharmaceuticals
Amunix Pharmaceuticals, based in Mountain View, CA, is a privately held drug discovery and development company with two proprietary technologies, XTEN® and ProTIA, that enable the rapid generation of protein therapeutics that are engineered to be fit for purpose. The company’s goal is to leverage its protein engineering platform and know-how to discover and develop safe and effective therapeutics for patients with cancer and other serious diseases. Amunix’s robust technology platforms have been validated through multiple collaborations with leading biopharmaceutical companies including Celgene, Genentech, Janssen, Roche, Bioverativ, and Baxter.
For additional information about the company, please visit www.amunix.com.
Contacts:
Volker Schellenberger, Ph.D.
President and CTO
Tel: 650-889-5095
vschellenberger@amunix.com