EMERYVILLE, Calif., U.S. and Lund, Sweden– May 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – XOMA Royalty Corporation (NASDAQ: XOMA), the biotech royalty aggregator, and BioInvent International AB (“BioInvent”) (Nasdaq Stockholm: BINV), a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel and first-in-class immune-modulatory antibodies for cancer immunotherapy, today announced XOMA Royalty has purchased the future mezagitamab (TAK-079) royalty and milestone interests held by BioInvent for USD $20 million at closing, with a total transaction of up to USD $30 million.
“This transaction further builds the potential of XOMA Royalty’s late-stage royalty portfolio by increasing our economics in a promising Phase 3 program already in our portfolio,” stated Brad Sitko, Chief Investment Officer of XOMA Royalty. “We appreciate the longstanding relationship with BioInvent stemming from XOMA’s legacy technology, which gave rise to mezagitamab. We are pleased to provide BioInvent non-dilutive capital to further advance its proprietary pipeline to a key inflection point.”
Martin Welschof, Chief Executive Officer of BioInvent said, “Today’s announcement highlights the value to BioInvent of our n-CoDeR® platform, which has led to the identification of multiple promising therapeutic antibody drug candidates, many of which are now in mid-to late-stage clinical trials. As well as reflecting XOMA Royalty’s expanded interest in mezagitamab, this transaction supports our strategy of creating value via partnerships and gives us a non-dilutive capital injection that bolsters our balance sheet so that we can continue to focus on advancing our own clinical drug development programs.”
The future royalty and milestone economics interest in mezagitamab originated from a 2003 cross-licensing agreement covering XOMA Royalty’s legacy bacterial protein expression technology and BioInvent’s n-CoDeR® antibody library. Under the terms of XOMA Royalty’s purchase of BioInvent’s economic interest in mezagitamab, XOMA Royalty paid to BioInvent USD $20 million at closing today and will pay an additional USD $10 million upon mezagitamab achieving a specific pre-defined regulatory milestone associated with receiving marketing approval in the IgA nephropathy indication from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
With its existing entitlement, plus the newly acquired economics from BioInvent, XOMA Royalty will be entitled to milestones of up to $16.25 million from Takeda, and mid-single digit royalties on future mezagitamab commercial sales.
In its Fiscal Year 2024 financial results, Takeda, the company developing mezagitamab, announced it has initiated a Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP)[1]. Mezagitamab is a fully human immunoglobulin IgG1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) with high affinity for CD38 expressing cells (including plasmablasts, plasma cells, natural killer cells) resulting in their depletion that has the potential of becoming the best-in-class anti-CD38 mAb[2].
About XOMA Royalty CorporationXOMA Royalty is a biotechnology royalty aggregator playing a distinctive role in helping biotech companies achieve their goal of improving human health. XOMA Royalty acquires the potential future economics associated with pre-commercial and commercial therapeutic candidates that have been licensed to pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. When XOMA Royalty acquires the future economics, the seller receives non-dilutive, non-recourse funding they can use to advance their internal drug candidate(s) or for general corporate purposes. The Company has an extensive and growing portfolio of assets (asset defined as the right to receive potential future economics associated with the advancement of an underlying therapeutic candidate). For more information about the Company and its portfolio, please visit www.xoma.com or follow XOMA Royalty Corporation on LinkedIn.
About BioInventBioInvent International AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: BINV) is a clinical-stage biotech company that discovers and develops novel and first-in-class immuno-modulatory antibodies for cancer therapy, with currently five drug candidates in six ongoing clinical programs in Phase 1/2 trials for the treatment of hematological cancer and solid tumors. The Company's validated, proprietary F.I.R.S.T™ technology platform identifies both targets and the antibodies that bind to them, generating many promising new immune-modulatory candidates to fuel the Company's own clinical development pipeline and providing licensing and partnering opportunities.
The Company generates revenues from research collaborations and license agreements with multiple top-tier pharmaceutical companies, as well as from producing antibodies for third parties in the Company's fully integrated manufacturing unit. More information is available at www.bioinvent.com.
XOMA Royalty Forward-Looking Statements/Explanatory NotesCertain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding the timing and amount of potential commercial and milestone payments to XOMA Royalty and other developments related to mezagitamab. In some cases, you can identify such forward-looking statements by terminology such as “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “plan,” “seek,” “project,” “expect,” “may,” “will”, “would,” “could” or “should,” the negative of these terms or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of XOMA Royalty’s performance, and you should not place undue reliance on such statements. These statements are based on assumptions that may not prove accurate, and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to certain risks inherent in the biotechnology industry, including those related to the fact that our product candidates subject to out-license agreements are still being developed, and our licensees may require substantial funds to continue development which may not be available; we do not know whether there will be, or will continue to be, a viable market for the products in which we have an ownership or royalty interest; and if the therapeutic product candidates to which we have a royalty interest do not receive regulatory approval, our third-party licensees will not be able to market them. Other potential risks to XOMA Royalty meeting these expectations are described in more detail in XOMA Royalty's most recent filing on Form 10-Q and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Consider such risks carefully when considering XOMA Royalty's prospects. Any forward-looking statement in this press release represents XOMA Royalty's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. XOMA Royalty disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by applicable law.
EXPLANATORY NOTE: Any references to “portfolio” in this press release refer strictly to milestone and/or royalty rights associated with a basket of drug products in development. Any references to “assets” in this press release refer strictly to milestone and/or royalty rights associated with individual drug products in development.
As of the date of this press release, the commercial assets in XOMA Royalty’s milestone and royalty portfolio are VABYSMO® (faricimab-svoa), OJEMDA™ (tovorafenib), MIPLYFFA™ (arimoclomol), XACIATO™ (clindamycin phosphate) vaginal gel 2%, IXINITY® [coagulation factor IX (recombinant)], and DSUVIA® (sufentanil sublingual tablet). All other assets in the milestone and royalty portfolio are investigational compounds. Efficacy and safety have not been established. There is no guarantee that any of the investigational compounds will become commercially available.
BioInvent disclaimerThe press release contains statements about the future, consisting of subjective assumptions and forecasts for future scenarios. Predictions for the future only apply as the date they are made and are, by their very nature, in the same way as research and development work in the biotech segment, associated with risk and uncertainty. With this in mind, the actual outcome may deviate significantly from the scenarios described in this press release.
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XOMA Royalty Investor contact: Juliane Snowden XOMA Royalty Corporation+1-646-438-9754juliane.snowden@xoma.com
XOMA Royalty Media contact:Kathy VincentKV Consulting & Management+1-310-403-8951kathy@kathyvincent.com
BioInvent Investor Contact:Cecilia Hofvander, VP Investor RelationsPhone: +46 (0)46 286 85 50Email: cecilia.hofvander@bioinvent.comBioInvent International AB (publ)Co. Reg. No.: 556537-7263Visiting address: Ideongatan 1Mailing address: 223 70 LUNDPhone: +46 (0)46 286 85 50www.bioinvent.com
[1] https://assets-dam.takeda.com/image/upload/v1746766844/Global/Investor/Financial-Results/FY2024/Q4/qr2024_q4_p01_en.pdf[2]https://assets-dam.takeda.com/image/upload/Global/Investor/events/2024/RD_Presentation_2024_EN.pdf
