Cooley Advises on Two Independent Billion-Dollar Life Sciences Collaborations

Reston, VA – December 16, 2013 – Cooley LLP announced today that it advised immatics biotechnologies GmbH and Molecular Partners AG on separate collaboration agreements with Roche, each potentially worth more than $1 billion.

For immatics, Cooley advised on a strategic research and development collaboration agreement focused on the development and commercialization of multiple cancer vaccines and immunotherapeutic products. The most advanced cancer vaccine candidate covered by the agreement is IMA942, for the treatment of gastric cancer, which is ready for phase I trials.

Under the terms of the agreement, immatics, a Germany-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing advanced therapeutic vaccines that are active against cancers with a high unmet medical need, will receive an upfront payment of $17 million and committed research funding, plus potential milestone payments of more than $1 billion. These amounts are in addition to royalties across three cancer indications based on sales of the cancer vaccines and immunotherapies resulting from the agreement.

In a separate transaction, Cooley advised Molecular Partners, a Switzerland-based biopharmaceutical company, in its strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Roche. This collaboration furthers discovery, development and commercialization of several proprietary therapeutics incorporating Molecular Partners' DARPin® biologics conjugated to toxic agents developed at Roche for the treatment of cancer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Roche receives the rights to develop and commercialize several DARPin-based products. In turn, the agreement entitles Molecular Partners to receive upfront and initiation payments of up to $60 million, in addition to research funding.  If all development and sales milestones are met for all potential products, Molecular Partners also has the right to earn more than $1 billion, as well as tiered royalties on any future product sales into the double-digit percentage range.

The Cooley team advising on the immatics transaction was led by partner Ken Krisko and included associates Jennifer Raab and Noelle Dubiansky.

The Cooley team advising on the Molecular Partners transaction was also led by Krisko and included associate Rena Kaminsky.

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