Medicago in vaccine development alliance with Mitsubishi Tanabe

Canada-based clinical stage drug developer  Medicago (TSX: MDG) has signed a strategic alliance with Japanese drugmaker Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma (YTO: 4508) to develop and commercialize at least three new vaccines.

Mitsubishi Tanabe will provide funding for all R&D costs. In exchange for granting licensing rights, Medicago will be entitled to receive an upfront of as much as C$33 million ($33.4 million) and milestone payments, as well as royalties for each product to be developed under this master agreement.

Under this first agreement to develop a Rotavirus Like Particle (RLP) vaccine target, Mitsubishi Tanabe will have the option to license the RLP vaccine target and assume global development, regulatory and commercialization responsibilities. Medicago will receive an upfront payment of C$3 million to begin the initial research on rotavirus. Work on an RLP vaccine target will begin immediately, and additional targets under this master agreement are to be selected by the parties at a later date.