F-star Therapeutics announces License agreement with Janssen to develop and commercialize multiple next generation Bispecific Antibody Therapeutics

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CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — October20, 2021 — (Globe Newswire) F-star Therapeutics, Ltd. (NASDAQ: FSTX) (“F-star” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing next generation immunotherapies to transform the lives of patients with cancer, today announced that it has entered into a license and collaboration agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson[JNJ]. The agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

Under the terms of the agreement, F-star will grant Janssen a worldwide, exclusive royalty-bearing license to research, develop, and commercialize up to five novel bispecific antibodies directed to Janssen therapeutic targets using F-star’s proprietary Fcab™ andmAb2™ platforms. Janssen will be responsible for all research, development, and commercialization activities under the agreement.

Neil Brewis, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of F-star said, “We are pleased to collaborate with Janssen and leverage the science of F-star’s proprietary tetravalent bispecific technology. Beyond our proprietary pipeline, we believe there is broad potential for our mAb2 platform to produce multiple next-generation bispecific antibody therapeutics.”

Under the terms of the agreement F-star is entitled to receive upfront fees of $17.5 million, near-term fees and potential further milestones of up to $1.35 billion. F-star is also eligible to receive potential tiered mid-single digit royalties on annual net sales.