Nykode Therapeutics (Formerly Vaccibody*)) Enters Into Multi-target License and Collaboration Agreement With Regeneron to Develop Innovative Vaccines Against Cancer and Infectious Diseases
23.11.2021 08:45:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
Nykode Therapeutics (formerly Vaccibody*)) (Euronext Growth (Oslo): VACC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of vaccines and novel immunotherapies, announced today that it has entered into a license and collaboration agreement with Regeneron for the discovery, development and commercialization of potential new vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases.
The agreement includes five distinct programs, three within cancer and two within infectious diseases. Each of these may include several vaccine candidates, all of which being eligible for milestone and royalty payments. The vaccines will combine Regeneron’s unique antigen selection expertise and innovative VelociSuite® in vivo models with Nykode Therapeutics’ modular vaccine platform and expertise in vaccine design. Nykode Therapeutics will be responsible for vaccine generation and characterization, as well as product supply through the end of Phase 1 trials. Regeneron will be responsible for antigen identification, preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing (from the end of Phase 1 trials) and commercialization.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nykode Therapeutics will receive a USD 30 million upfront payment and a USD 20 million equity investment at a premium of 20% on a 30-day volume weighted average price of the Nykode Therapeutics share for the last 30 trading days before the effective date of the agreement. Additionally, Nykode Therapeutics will potentially be eligible to receive more than USD 875 million in milestone payments, plus high single-digit to low double-digit tiered royalties on sales of commercialized products arising from the collaboration, bringing the total potential value of the agreement to more than USD 925 million, plus royalties. Regeneron will cover costs for research, as well as potential clinical, regulatory, manufacturing and commercialization activities.
Michael Engsig, CEO of Nykode Therapeutics, said: “We are very pleased to have entered into this groundbreaking agreement with Regeneron that may accelerate the expansion of our pipeline and fully leverage our unique and modular vaccine technology platform within multiple, large and commercially significant disease areas, in line with our corporate strategy. The agreement further validates Nykode Therapeutics’ position as a leading next-generation immunotherapy platform company. We are thrilled about the choice of programs and their therapeutic potential within cancer, and prophylactic and therapeutic potential within infectious diseases.”
Agnete B. Fredriksen, Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer of Nykode Therapeutics, continued: “Regeneron has generated unique know how in selecting and validating immunogenic antigens from extensive analysis of patient material. These can now be incorporated into our vaccine platform to deliver the antigens directly to antigen presenting cells and optimize the likelihood of inducing strong and broad clinically relevant immune responses. Regeneron has also developed a unique suite of proprietary VelociSuite® technologies and in vivo models that can accelerate and improve the traditional drug development process, and they will use their deep clinical expertise to guide development of these novel vaccines. Therefore, Regeneron will be a tremendous partner as we work to bring multiple additional vaccines based on our technology platform to patients in the fastest and broadest manner and complement the expansion and acceleration of internal programs.”
Mikkel W. Pedersen, Chief Scientific Officer of Nykode Therapeutics, added: “We are excited about the opportunity to work with the Regeneron team. The extensive disease biology expertise of Regeneron coupled with Nykode Therapeutics’ modular and targeted vaccine platform will enable us to design and potentially bring into the clinic new unique therapeutic vaccine concepts within both oncology and infectious diseases.”
Gavin Thurston, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Oncology Research, at Regeneron said: “Collaborating with Nykode Therapeutics will bring another dimension to Regeneron’s already robust research and development programs for oncology and infectious disease and, in particular, provides new opportunities to help people with challenging tumor types or infectious diseases with high unmet need. Nykode Therapeutics’ platform efficiently delivers vaccine payloads to antigen presenting cells and allows for vaccine candidates that can be easily manufactured. It has already shown robust CD8+ antigen-specific T cell responses in animal models and in patients with cancer. Combining their platform with our industry-leading VelociSuite® technologies and expertise may help to accelerate this emerging and promising therapeutic approach.”
Webcast
CEO Michael Engsig and other members of management will host a webcast on November 23, 2021 at 4 p.m. CET / 10 a.m. EST to present the license and collaboration agreement with Regeneron. The slides will be made available before the webcast. The webcast may be viewed here:
https://channel.royalcast.com/landingpage/hegnarmedia/20211118_4/
*) Vaccibody AS, which is changing its company name to Nykode Therapeutics AS, has called for an EGM on November 30, 2021, to vote for the approval of the change of its company name from Vaccibody AS to Nykode Therapeutics AS.
About Nykode Therapeutics
Nykode Therapeutics, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, dedicated to the discovery and development of vaccines and novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Nykode Therapeutics’ modular vaccine technology specifically targets antigens to Antigen Presenting Cells, which are essential for inducing rapid, strong and long-lasting antigen specific immune responses and elicit efficacious clinical responses.
Its lead product candidates are VB10.16, a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of human papilloma virus 16 induced malignancies which is in Phase 2 for the treatment of cervical cancer; and VB10.NEO, a cancer neoantigen vaccine, which is exclusively outlicensed to Genentech and is in Phase 1b for the treatment of locally advanced and metastatic tumors and Phase 1/2a for the treatment of melanoma, lung-, head and neck, renal-, and bladder cancer. Additionally, Nykode Therapeutics has initiated a Phase 1/2 trial in 2021 with its two next-generation COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
The Company has collaborations with Roche, Genentech and Nektar Therapeutics within oncology, a multi-target collaboration agreement with Regeneron within oncology and infectious diseases, and a collaboration with Adaptive Biotechnologies for COVID-19 T cell vaccine development.
Nykode Therapeutics’ shares are traded on Euronext Growth (Oslo), a trading platform operated by Euronext, the leading Pan-European market infrastructure. The ticker code is VACC. Further information about Nykode Therapeutics may be found at http://www.nykode.com
Forward-looking statements for Nykode Therapeutics
This announcement and any materials distributed in connection with this announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect the company's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of material factors could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211122006740/en/
Contact information
Contact for Nykode Therapeutics:
CEO Michael Engsig
Nykode Therapeutics
IR@nykode.com
Nykode Therapeutics
Oslo Science Park
Gaustadalléen 21
N-0349 Oslo, Norway
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
VerSprite Launches Fork and Knife: AI-Driven Threat Modeling and Adversarial Testing Built for the Speed of Modern Software27.6.2026 00:28:00 EEST | Press release
VerSprite, a global leader in risk-based threat modeling and the firm behind the PASTA (Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis) methodology, today announced the general availability of Fork (www.forktm.com), a continuous application threat modeling platform, alongside Knife, an AI-led, human-on-the-loop adversarial testing platform for web applications and web API endpoints. Together, the two products operationalize a new model for product security—one where applications are securely designed, continuously modeled, and actively tested as part of the build process itself. The launch addresses a problem every security leader knows but few tools have solved: threat modeling is essential, never more so than in an AI-driven era, yet it has remained slow, manual, and anchored to frameworks designed for a different threat landscape. The problem: threat modeling matters more than ever—and most tools are stuck in 2005 For two decades, application threat modeling has leaned heavily on
Venture Global Announces Closing of $1.5 Billion Senior Secured Vessel Financing Facility26.6.2026 23:30:00 EEST | Press release
Venture Global, Inc. (NYSE: VG) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Venture Global Shipping Holdings, LLC (“VGSH”), has entered into a Credit and Guaranty Agreement providing for a senior secured term loan facility (the “Facility”) in an aggregate principal amount of up to $1,500,000,000. The Facility will mature on June 26, 2032. Deutsche Bank and ING acted as coordinating lead arrangers for the Facility. ING also serves as facility agent and security trustee. VGSH intends to use the net proceeds from the Facility for general corporate purposes, including to reimburse Venture Global LNG, Inc. for payments previously made by it or its affiliates in connection with the acquisition of nine LNG carriers, funding certain reserve accounts, and paying transaction fees and expenses. About Venture Global Venture Global is an American producer and exporter of low-cost U.S. liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) with over 100 MTPA of capacity in production, construction, or development. Ven
Capco Recognized by OpenAI for Innovation and Responsible AI Leadership26.6.2026 21:00:00 EEST | Press release
Global management and technology consultancy Capco, a Wipro company,has been recognized by OpenAI for both AI innovation and responsible AI leadership. Capco received the AI Governance & Risk Excellence Award at the recent OpenAI Partner Summit 2026 in San Francisco, highlighting Capco’s ability to deliver enterprise-grade AI outcomes in highly regulated environments. The award recognizes Capco’s expert advantage when helping financial services and energy organizations to scale AI with confidence, balancing innovation with strong governance to reduce risk, strengthen compliance and improve customer outcomes. This award follows Capco winning the OpenAI Codex Hackathon, where its UK AI Lab competed against more than 30 teams and over 100 participants from across the OpenAI partner ecosystem. Capco's winning entry Sentra – a consulting-led, AI-powered retail banking solution – uses digital twin technology to identify vulnerable customers and recommend explainable next-best actions for fro
Incyte Announces Positive CHMP Opinion for Opzelura ® (ruxolitinib) Cream for the Treatment of Adults with Moderate Atopic Dermatitis26.6.2026 14:30:00 EEST | Press release
Incyte (Nasdaq: INCY) today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued a positive opinion recommending the approval of Opzelura® (ruxolitinib) cream for the treatment of moderate atopic dermatitis (AD) in adult patients for whom topical corticosteroids (TCSs) and topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCIs) are inadequate or inappropriate. “AD is a chronic skin condition that can have a significant impact on daily life. The positive CHMP opinion for Opzelura marks meaningful progress toward bringing the first non-steroidal topical JAK treatment option to adults in Europe with moderate AD for whom standard topical therapies have failed,” said Lee Heeson, Executive Vice President and Head of Incyte International. “If approved by the European Commission, Opzelura could help address an important gap for patients who have limited treatment options when TCSs and TCIs are inadequate or inappropriate.” The positive CHMP o
Datroway ® Recommended for Approval in the EU by CHMP as First-Line Treatment for Patients with Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer Who Are Not Candidates for Immunotherapy26.6.2026 14:00:00 EEST | Press release
Datroway® (datopotamab deruxtecan) has been recommended for approval in the European Union (EU) as monotherapy for the first-line treatment of adult patients with unresectable or metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) who are not candidates for PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor therapy. Datroway is a specifically engineered TROP2 directed DXd antibody drug conjugate (ADC) discovered by Daiichi Sankyo (TSE: 4568) and being jointly developed and commercialized by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/NYSE: AZN). The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) based its positive opinion on results from the TROPION-Breast02phase 3 trial, which werepresented at the 2025 European Society for Medical Oncology Congress and published in Annals of Oncology. The recommendation will now be reviewed by the European Commission, which has the authority to grant marketing authorizations for medicines in the EU. In TROPION-Breast02, Datroway demonstrated a
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom