US biotech company Jennerex Biotherapeutics is in talks with Actis Biologics to co-develop and license out a novel cell technology VFF2. VFF2, a unique technology discovered by Actis Biologics India to produce heavy cells for high- yield development and production of biologicals, is crucial for significant cost reduction in the development and production of biopharmaceuticals.
The licensing deal, if signed, will be with an upfront payment and royalties to Actis as per the specific global market accesses by Jennerex. However, it is learnt that Actis will retain the application rights of this technology for the Asian markets.
Actis Biologics India is an emerging biotech company promoted by a group of Indian intellectuals and investors with 30 per cent equity participation from its US parent Actis Biologics Inc.
Sources close to the development said Jennerex is currently in the final stages of discussions with the Indian company and the agreement is likely to be signed very shortly. The financial details of the deal is yet to be known.
According to industry analysts, since the technology is important for biopharmaceutical companies to save cost in the highly competitive market scenario, it would be valued over $500 million to $600 million as per the current market estimate.
Jennerex Biotherapeutics had recently signed an agreement with Green Cross Corp, South Korea, for the development and commercialisation JX-594, an oncolytic vaccinia virus for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) in Korea.
Under the terms of this agreement, Green Cross will fund all development, regulatory, manufacturing and commercialisation activities for JX-594 in South Korea and will pay Jennerex a royalty on the commercial sales in South Korea.
The US-based biotech research company, Actis Biologics Inc, had last year set up its Indian subsidiary with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion). It has set up a large-scale research facility in Mumbai and multiple manufacturing sites in the country.
The Indian arm, which will have five subsidiaries focusing on different technology platforms in the biopharmaceutical space, has equity investment commitments from two leading Indian corporates - Walchand Nagar Industries and Innovsynth Technologies India, a subsidiary of the polyester major Futura.
ABPL is currently focusing on biopharmaceutical therapies for cancer, cardiovascular and genetic diseases. Its business model is to discover new molecules through collaborations and/or internal research or to in-license promising targets, then add value to the targets by accelerating the progression through the biopharmaceutical product lifecycle while reducing costs by a significant margin.
