Research & Development

Ryvu Therapeutics and BioNTech will jointly begin drug discovery and research projects to develop multiple small molecule programmes directed at exclusive targets selected by BioNTech. The collaboration will primarily focus on immune modulation within oncology, with a scope for other applications in other disease areas.

BioNTech will have the option to license global development and commercialisation rights to the programmes at the development candidate stage, also giving BioNTech the exclusive global licence to develop and commercialise Ryvu’s STING agonist portfolio as stand-alone small molecules, including as monotherapy and in therapeutic combinations.

Within the agreement, BioNTech will pay Ryvu Therapeutics an upfront fee of €20m in exchange for the rights listed above, and it has pledged an equity investment of a further €20m. Ryvu Therapeutics will be eligible to receive success-based development, regulatory and commercialisation milestone payments, and low, single-digit royalties on the annual net sales of any products successfully commercialised under the collaboration.

Prof Ugur Sahin, MD, chief executive officer and co-founder of BioNTech stated: “Small molecules targeting novel immune signalling pathways have a great potential to increase the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies. The collaboration with Ryvu provides us with the opportunity to complement our immunotherapy pipeline with a portfolio of potent immunomodulatory molecules.”

“Ryvu is excited to bring its expertise in immuno-oncology to work with a global leader in the development of immunomodulatory targeted therapies. BioNTech’s expertise in immunomodulatory mechanisms is a great match for Ryvu’s platform and we fully expect to develop differentiated, therapeutically effective and safe molecules with our combined expertise,” added Paweł Przewięźlikowski, chief executive officer, at Ryvu.