Globavir out-licenses exclusive rights to Sorrento for BC001

Privately-held US biotech firm Globavir Biosciences has granted an exclusive license to clinical-stage biotech Sorrento Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SRNE) for its novel oncology compound, BC001.

"Our agreement with Sorrento Therapeutics represents the first oncology partnership for Globavir," said Shalabh Gupta, Globavir's president and chief executive. "Sorrento has a strong background in oncology and proven experience in clinical development advancing drugs to commercial stage. We are excited about the potential of BC001 as a new therapeutic option for patients affected with cancer and look forward to leveraging our computational Globavir Drug Discovery Platform (GDDP) to generate additional oncology compounds in the future," Dr Gupta added.

Partnership terms

Under the terms of the agreement, Sorrento will be responsible for the development and commercialization of BC001 for the treatment of solid tumors. Full details of the partnership were not disclosed, but Sorrento Therapeutics participated as an equity investor in Globavir's previous round of financing and, under the terms of partnership Globavir, is entitled to $80 million in regulatory and sales milestones in addition to multi-tiered royalty payments on global net sales.