On December 17, 2015 Medigene AG (MDG1, Frankfurt, Prime Standard), a clinical stage immunotherapy company focussing on the development of T-cell therapy platforms for the treatment of cancer, and SynCore Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Taiwan, reported that they signed an asset purchase agreement for the complete transfer of EndoTAG to SynCore, replacing and terminating the license agreement from May 2013 (Press release, MediGene, DEC 17, 2015, View Source [SID:1234508589]).

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Within the framework of the agreement and in addition to licensing payments and proceeds from issued Medigene shares totalling EUR 6.3 m already received, Medigene will receive a payment of EUR 5m from SynCore to be paid in five annual instalments. Moreover, Medigene is eligible to milestone payments and royalties for EndoTAG-1.

The transfer of rights (closing) will take place early 2016, when the first instalment will be paid. Therefore, the agreement will have no impact on Medigene’s financial guidance for 2015.

Dr Frank Mathias, CEO of Medigene, comments: "The complete transfer of EndoTAG is a consequent step in our portfolio strategy and enables Medigene to further focus on its core business of immuno-oncology. We will use freed up resources for the clinical development of our innovative immunotherapy platforms."

Dr Muh-Hwan Su, General Manager of SynCore Biotechnology: "The new agreement provides a win-win situation for both partners and enables SynCore to act independently in the further development of the drug candidate and to fully exploit the value of EndoTAG."

About EndoTAG: EndoTAG is a novel composition of neutral and positive lipids. Loaded with the established cytostatic drug Paclitaxel, EndoTAG builds the drug candidate EndoTAG-1. Due to the positive charge, EndoTAG-1 interacts with newly formed, negatively charged endothelial cells, which are specifically required for the growth of tumour blood vessels. The EndoTAG-1 paclitaxel component attacks the activated endothelial cells as they divide, thus targeting the blood supply to tumours without affecting endothelial cells of healthy tissues. By doing this, EndoTAG-1 is expected to prevent the formation of new tumour blood vessels and to inhibit tumour growth.