Alligator Bioscience announces that a development milestone payment of USD 6 million has been triggered under the partnership agreement for ADC-1013 (JNJ-64457107) with Janssen Biotech, Inc.

The milestone payment is for the partnership agreement to initiate a clinical combination study of ADC-1013 with one of Janssen’s proprietary PD-1 inhibitors. This is the first out of a number of pre-defined milestones, related to the start of combination or phase II studies as part of the ADC-1013 clinical program, which all together have an aggregated potential value of 35 MUSD.

The licensing agreement with Janssen Biotech Inc. encompasses milestone payments up to a potential total value of USD 695 million.  Alligator is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on worldwide net sales upon successful launch and commercialization of ADC-1013.

“We are pleased that our collaboration with Janssen is continuing to progress according to plan”, said Per Norlén, CEO at Alligator Bioscience. “The upcoming combination is a very important step in the continued clinical development. Synergy between ADC-1013 and PD-1 blocking antibodies is supported by pre-clinical data. If this translates to the clinic, it could create new treatment opportunities for many cancer patients”.

Alligator’s partner Janssen Biotech, Inc. is performing a phase I dose-escalation clinical study (ClinicalTrials: NCT02829099) with intravenous administration of JNJ-64457107 (ADC-1013). This study is ongoing with approximately 50 patients recruited to date.