3 April 2019 - - US-based biopharmaceutical company Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ: XNCR) has entered into a research and license agreement in which Astellas Pharma Inc. will access Xencor's bispecific technology to advance a novel bispecific antibody program in oncology, the company said.

Xencor and Astellas will collaborate to generate bispecific antibodies directed toward a selected anti-tumor target for the potential treatment of patients with cancer, and Astellas will have an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialise novel drug candidates.

Under the terms of the agreement, Xencor will apply its bispecific technology to create multiple bispecific antibody candidates against the target specified by Astellas and will perform initial characterization of the molecules.

Astellas will conduct all preclinical and clinical development and regulatory and commercial activities. Xencor will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible to receive development, regulatory and sales milestone payments and high-single digit to low-double digit percentage royalties on net sales.

Xencor is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases, asthma and allergic diseases.

Currently, 12 candidates engineered with Xencor's XmAbtechnology are in clinical development internally and with partners. Xencor's XmAb antibody engineering technology enables small changes to the structure of monoclonal antibodies resulting in new mechanisms of therapeutic action.