Abzena in licence agreement with USA-based Trieza

Abzena has granted USA-based Trieza an exclusive worldwide, royalty bearing, sub-licensable licence to an undisclosed antibody sequence, for exploitation in conjunction with Trieza’s viral vector technology to develop novel therapies in oncology.

Trieza is a start-up biotechnology company specialising in the discovery and development of immunomodulatory oncolytic viruses.

According to the agreement, Abzena could receive up to $35m in development and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on the sale of licensed products containing the Abzena sequence.

Dr John Burt, Abzena’s CEO, said: “This new licence deal with Trieza provides the opportunity for Abzena to benefit from the commercialisation of one of the assets originally developed by the Group to exemplify its proprietary antibody humanization and deimmunisation technology.  Our Abzena inside portfolio already has eleven products in the clinic that have benefitted from this technology.”

Dr Dan Hicklin, Trieza Therapeutics’ CEO, said: “We are pleased to enter this relationship with Abzena. Access to Abzena’s technology will accelerate the development of Trieza’s portfolio of immunotherapeutic oncolytic virus product candidates”.