Biotechnology company Entos Pharmaceuticals Inc reported on Wednesday the signing of a research, development and collaboration agreement with a biopharmaceutical partner to develop novel therapeutic compounds targeting autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

The companies will collaborate on the formulation and screening of candidates using Entos' Fusogenix non-viral delivery platform for nucleic acid therapies. Fusogenix uses a novel mechanism of action to deliver molecules, intact and unmodified, directly into the cytosol of target cells. The technology is applicable to a wide range of therapeutic types including gene therapy, mRNA, miRNA, RNAi and CRISPR.

This R&D agreement provides the partner company with the option to exclusively license the candidates developed from Entos for further development and commercialisation.

As part of the agreement, Entos receives research funding and is eligible for option exercise fees and research, development, regulatory and sales milestone payments of up to USD109m from the partner.

In addition, the partner will pay Entos undisclosed royalties on sales of products resulting from the collaboration.