Janssen Biotech, one of the pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson, has signed a license agreement worth up to $1.4 billion with Zymeworks, a Vancouver, Canada-headquartered clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company.

Under the agreement, Zymeworks will provide Janssen with a worldwide, royalty-bearing license to research, develop, and commercialize up to six bispecific antibodies directed to Janssen therapeutic targets using Zymeworks’ Azymetric platform, which enables the transformation of monospecific antibodies into bispecific antibodies, and EFECT platform, which modulates the activity of antibody-mediated immune responses. Janssen will be responsible for all research, development, and commercial activities.

Zymeworks will receive an upfront payment of $50 million and is eligible to potentially receive up to $282 million in development milestones,up to $1.12 billion in commercial milestone payments, and tiered royalties on potential sales. Janssen also has the option to develop two additional bispecific programs under the agreement subject to a future option payment.

Source: Zymeworks