Starpharma inks license agreement with Genentech

23 September 2025

Shares of Australian biotech Starpharma (ASX: SPL) rocketed up 73% to A$0.22 yesterday, after it announced it has signed a collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche (ROG: SIX), to develop potential cancer therapies that leverage Starpharma’s proprietary DEP drug delivery technology.

Starpharma will receive an upfront payment of $5.5 million (~AUD $8.3 million), and is eligible for development, commercial, and net sales milestones of up to $564 million (~AUD $855 million). In addition to this amount, Starpharma is eligible for tiered royalties on global net sales of products resulting from the collaboration.

Starpharma will employ its proprietary DEP platform technology to develop dendrimer-drug conjugates that incorporate Genentech medicines for certain oncology targets. Starpharma has granted Genentech an exclusive worldwide license under Starpharma’s IP to develop and commercialize products resulting from the collaboration, which could include multiple products for each target.

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