Amunix Pharmaceuticals Announces Technology Licensing Agreement with Roche to Advance Novel Therapeutics Outside Oncology

• Amunix to receive $40 million in upfront payment and may receive up to $1.5 billion in development and sales milestones
  
  
• Roche to utilize XTEN, Amunix’s clinically validated therapeutic half-life extension technology, to discover and develop novel therapeutics

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Amunix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Amunix”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing pro-drugs to enable the promise of potent immune-activating biotherapeutics in solid tumors, today announced that it has provided a technology license to F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (“Roche”) to utilize Amunix’s technology platform, XTEN, to discover and develop non-oncology therapeutics against certain undisclosed targets. This agreement builds on Amunix’s previous technology assessment with Roche focused on using XTEN, a proprietary unstructured polypeptide, to extend drug half-life.

“We are pleased to license our technology to Roche to support the discovery and development of novel therapeutics to address high unmet needs across various diseases,” said Angie You, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Amunix. “This agreement further validates our foundational XTEN technology and its continued potential for biopharmaceutical partners seeking to develop drugs with augmented half-life and low associated immunogenicity.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Amunix will receive a $40 million upfront payment from Roche. Amunix may also receive up to $1.5 billion in payments from Roche associated with the achievement of certain developmental and sales milestones, plus royalties on sales of commercialized products.

Dr. You continued, “As we continue to pivot from purely a technology licensing company to a cancer drug discovery and development organization, we look forward to Roche and other external collaborators continuing to utilize our XTEN technology for a spectrum of indications while we focus our internal efforts on repurposing this technology to build a pro-drug platform and advance an oncology pipeline.” 

About Amunix Pharmaceuticals 

Amunix Pharmaceuticals, based in Mountain View, CA, is leveraging over a decade of expertise in precision protein engineering to enable the promise of T cell engagers and cytokines to treat patients with solid tumors. Our goal is to both develop and commercialize breakthrough therapies that harness the immune system. 

Our foundational XTEN technology platform, which consists of unstructured polypeptides, has been clinically validated through collaborations with biopharmaceutical companies to extend half-life of therapeutics with low associated immunogenicity. Our current focus is Pro-XTEN, a next-generation protease activated pro-drug platform, which enables selective activation of potent cancer therapies in the tumor microenvironment. Pro-XTEN is designed to overcome a common challenge facing potent immune system activators: on-target, off-tumor toxicity.

For additional information about the company, please visit www.amunix.com.

Contacts

Company Contact:

Darcy Mootz, CBO
[email protected]

Media Contact:

Liz Melone
[email protected]