Orion Corporation and Alligator Bioscience announce immuno-oncology research collaboration and license agreement

Orion Corporation and Alligator Bioscience announce immuno-oncology research collaboration and license agreement

Orion Corporation and Alligator Bioscience (Nasdaq Stockholm: ATORX) announced today that they have entered into a research collaboration and license agreement to discover and develop together new bispecific antibody cancer therapeutics.

The research collaboration is focused on the discovery of novel bispecific antibodies directed towards immuno-oncology targets selected by Orion. The agreement covers an option to develop three bispecific antibodies. The agreement calls for Alligator Bioscience to employ its proprietary phage display libraries and RUBY™ bispecific platform to develop immuno-oncology product candidates based on design criteria identified by Orion.

During the research period of the collaboration, Alligator Bioscience will receive an upfront payment and research support payments. Should Orion trigger its option to continue development and commercialization of the product candidates, Alligator Bioscience would be eligible for development, approval and sales milestone payments for all three projects in addition to royalties.

Outi Vaarala, Senior Vice President, R&D, Orion, said: “We are particularly pleased with this collaboration with Alligator Bioscience to develop new immuno-oncology treatments mobilizing the immune system to eliminate cancer cells. Bispecific antibodies provide as a tool many advantages for the next generation immuno-oncology treatments with improved efficacy, particularly in the cancer patients who do not respond to the present available therapeutics.”

“We are excited to enter into this collaborative research program which combines Alligator Bioscience’s expertise in antibody discovery and immuno-oncology development with Orion’s insights into novel immuno-oncology approaches,” said Søren Bregenholt, CEO of Alligator Bioscience. Bregenholt continued, “This agreement validates that Alligator Bioscience’s extensive range of phage display libraries and our RUBY bispecific platform offer a solid foundation to identify and develop high quality first-in-class therapeutic antibodies with excellent manufacturability characteristics.”

About Alligator Bioscience

Alligator Bioscience AB is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing tumor-directed immuno-oncology antibody drugs. The pipeline includes two clinical assets: mitazalimab, a CD40 agonist, and ATOR-1017, a 4-1BB agonist. Alligator Bioscience is co-developing ALG.APV-527 with Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. and an undisclosed molecule based on its proprietary Neo-X-Prime™ technology platform with MacroGenics Inc. Outlicensed programs include AC101 in clinical development by Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. and an undisclosed target to Biotheus Inc. Alligator Bioscience’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (ATORX).

The Company is headquartered in Lund, Sweden. For more information, please visit www.alligatorbioscience.com.

                                                
Contact persons:

Orion Corporation


Outi Vaarala

Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Orion Corporation
tel: +358 10 426 3472
outi.vaarala@orionpharma.com

Tuukka Hirvonen, Investor Relations, Orion Corporation
tel: +358 10 426 2721
tuukka.hirvonen@orion.fi

Alligator Bioscience

Søren Bregenholt, CEO
tel: +46 46-540 82 00
sbr@alligatorbioscience.com
 

Julie Silber, Investor Relations
tel: +46 46-540 82 23
jur@alligatorbioscience.com

  

Publisher:
Orion Corporation
Communications
Orionintie 1A, FI-02200 Espoo, Finland
www.orion.fi

Orion is a globally operating Finnish pharmaceutical company – a builder of well-being. Orion develops, manufactures and markets human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company is continuously developing new drugs and treatment methods. The core therapy areas of Orion's pharmaceutical R&D are neurological disorders, oncology and respiratory diseases for which Orion develops inhaled pulmonary medication. Orion's net sales in 2020 amounted to EUR 1,078 million and the company had about 3,300 employees at the end of the year. Orion's A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.