UCB and MRC Technology have entered into an exclusive license agreement, with UCB obtaining rights in a fibrosis therapy program. The program stems from a collaboration between MRC Technology’s Centre for Therapeutics Discovery and academics at the University of Sheffield on development of an antibody-based therapy for the treatment of fibrotic disease.
As part of the agreement, MRC Technology will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, clinical development milestone payments, and royalties on future products. In accordance with the company’s not-for-profit collaborative model, revenue from this deal is shared with the University of Sheffield and will be reinvested to support other collaborative programs within its drug discovery labs, MRC Technology said.
“We are excited to be working with MRC Technology and University of Sheffield scientists to build on their work to date in generating and characterizing promising therapeutic approaches with the potential for significant patient impact,” said Mark Bodmer, UCB new medicines vice president and head of immunology.
“This program has the potential to not only benefit fibrosis patients and help prevent organ failure, but also enables MRC Technology and its partners to help bring other new research to market,” said Michael Dalrymple, director of business development at MRC Technology.
