Regeneron licenses its VelocImmune technology to Astellas for MAb R&D

Japanese drug major Astellas Pharma and the USA's Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement to allow it to utilize the latter's VelocImmune technology in its internal research programs to discover human monoclonal antibody product candidates. Under the terms of the deal, Astellas will pay $20.0 million up front and will make up to five additional annual contributions of $20.0 million, subject to the ability to terminate the agreement after making the first three additional payments. Upon commercialization of any antibody products discovered utilizing VelocImmune, Astellas will pay a mid-single-digit royalty on product sales. The firm will report the $80.0 million license fee for the initial four years as an R&D expense on its income statements for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007.