F-star Therapeutics Enters into Exclusive Licensing Agreement with AstraZeneca for Novel STING Inhibitors
08 Juli 2021 - 2:00PM
F-star Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:
FSTX) (“F-star” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing next generation
bispecific immunotherapies to transform the lives of patients with
cancer, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive
licensing agreement with AstraZeneca plc (NASDAQ: AZN)
(“AstraZeneca”), under which AstraZeneca will receive global rights
to research, develop and commercialize next generation Stimulator
of Interferon Genes (STING) inhibitor compounds.
Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca is granted
exclusive access to F-star’s novel preclinical STING inhibitors.
AstraZeneca will be responsible for all future research,
development and commercialization of the STING inhibitor compounds,
and F-star will retain rights to all STING agonists, currently in
clinical development for patients with cancer.
Neil Brewis, Chief Scientific Officer of F-star, said, “We are
excited to announce this agreement with AstraZeneca to develop
these promising drug candidates. STING inhibitors offer enormous
potential for new treatments, as STING is known to play a role in
activating the innate immune system across a range of inflammatory
and autoimmune diseases. We are confident that AstraZeneca can
maximize the value of these discovery stage compounds to benefit
patients.”
Maria Belvisi, Senior Vice President and Head of Research and
Early Development, Respiratory & Immunology, BioPharmaceuticals
R&D of AstraZeneca, said, “As part of our bold ambition to
develop therapeutic options for patients across immune mediated
diseases I am delighted to announce this agreement with F-star to
explore novel STING inhibitors. We look forward to advancing our
discovery efforts in these areas of high unmet medical need.”
F-star is eligible to receive upfront and near-term payments of
up to $12 million. In addition, F-star will be eligible for
development and sales milestone payments of over $300 million, as
well as single digit percentage royalty payments. Payments received
by F-star are subject to a contingent value rights agreement (CVR
2), under which a percentage will be payable to stockholders of
F-star that were previously stockholders of Spring Bank
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Spring Bank”) prior to the business
combination between F-star and Spring Bank.
About F-star Therapeutics, Inc.
F-star is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing
tetravalent bispecific antibodies for a paradigm shift in cancer
therapy. By developing medicines that seek to block tumor immune
evasion, the Company’s goal is to offer patients greater and more
durable benefits than current immuno-oncology treatments. Through
its proprietary tetravalent, bispecific natural antibody (mAb²™)
format, F-star’s mission is to generate highly differentiated
best-in-class drug candidates with monoclonal antibody-like
manufacturability. For more information
visit www.f-star.com and follow us
on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some
cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology
such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “projects,”
“future,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “estimates,”
“predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” “guidance,” or the negative of
these terms or other comparable terminology, which are intended to
identify forward-looking statements, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements regarding management's intentions, plans, beliefs,
expectations or forecasts for the future, the therapeutic potential
of F-star’s product candidates, the potential success of the
collaboration between F-star and AstraZeneca and F-star’s potential
receipt of milestone and sales-based payments from AstraZeneca. You
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. No
forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may
differ materially from those projected.
Such forward-looking statements are based on F-star's
expectations and involve risks and uncertainties; consequently,
actual results may differ materially from those expressed or
implied in the statements due to a number of factors, including,
but not limited to, risks relating to F-star's status as a clinical
stage immuno-oncology company and its need for substantial
additional funding in order to complete the development and
commercialization of its product candidates, that it may experience
delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the
development and commercialization of its product candidates, that
its clinical trials may fail to adequately demonstrate the safety
and efficacy of its product candidates, that results of preclinical
studies and early stage clinical trials may not be predictive of
the results of later state clinical trials, that F-star faces
significant competition in its drug discovery and development
efforts, risks from global pandemics including COVID-19,
legislative, regulatory, political and economic developments,
references to novel technologies and methods and F-star’s business
and product development plans, including the advancement of
F-star’s proprietary and co-development programs, and inherent
uncertainties associated with developing new products or
technologies.
New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for
F-star to predict all such factors, nor can it assess the impact of
each such factor on the business or the extent to which any factor,
or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ
materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.
These risks are more fully discussed in F-star’s Annual Report on
Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents filed
from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Forward-looking statements included in this press release are based
on information available to us as of the date of this press
release. F-star does not undertake any obligation to update such
forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or
circumstances after the date of this press release, except to the
extent required by law.
For further information, please contact:
For investor inquiriesLindsey
TrickettVP Investor Relations & Communications+1
240 543 7970lindsey.trickett@f-star.com For
media inquiriesHelen ShikShik
Communications LLC+1 617-510-4373Shik.Helen10@gmail.com
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