Business
Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Werewolf Therapeutics Announce Exclusive Global License and Collaboration Agreement to Develop WTX-613, a Differentiated, Conditionally-Activated IFNα INDUKINE™ Molecule
Werewolf to receive $15 million upfront payment, with potential for up to $1.26 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestone payments in addition to
About this update from Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"Werewolf to receive $15 million upfront payment, with potential for up to $1.26 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestone payments in addition to royalties on future net sales\nWTX-613 expands Jazz's robust oncology pipeline and represents first immuno-oncology program in company's R&D portfolio\nDUBLIN and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: JAZZ) and Werewolf Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOWL) today announced that the companies have entered into a licensing agreement under which Jazz has acquired exclusive global development and commercialization rights to Werewolf's investigational WTX-613, a differentiated, conditionally-activated interferon alpha (IFNα) INDUKINE™ molecule.\n\"We believe WTX-613 has the potential to minimize the toxicity associated with systemic IFNα therapy, preferentially delivering IFNα to tumors, and thereby expanding its clinical utility in treating cancer. We are excited about the potential of WTX-613 based on compelling proof-of-concept data, recently presented at ASH, where a WTX-613 surrogate molecule demonstrated anti-tumor activity in preclinical models,\" said Rob Iannone, M.D., M.S.C.E., executive vice president, global head of research and development of Jazz Pharmaceuticals. \"This transaction underscores our commitment to enhancing our pipeline to deliver novel oncology therapies to patients, and also provides us with an opportunity to expand into immuno-oncology. We will continue to identify and advance promising treatments and novel combinations as we aim to deliver at least five additional novel therapies to patients by the end of the decade as part of our Vision 2025.\"\nWTX-613 is currently in preclinical development. Jazz expects to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for WTX-613 in 2023.\n\"We are thrilled to join forces with Jazz to advance WTX-613 on behalf of patients,\" said Daniel J. Hicklin, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Werewolf. \"This partnership comes at an exciting time for Werewolf and enables WTX-613 to rapidly move toward the clinic, while we continue to advance our lead programs, WTX-124 and WTX-330, through expected IND filings this year.\"\nWTX-613 is an engineered IFN⍺2b cytokine pro-drug that is activated specifically within the ...