MabVax Therapeutics inks another licensing deal this month

Active licensor cancer drug developer MabVax Therapeutics (Nasdaq: MBVX) has signed yet another out-licensing deal this month, sending the shares of the San Diego-based biotech soaring 293% to $2.32 by late morning trading.

MabVax and German family-owned pharma major Boehringer Ingelheim today announced an asset acquisition and related agreements centered on MabVax' program targeting a glycan commonly over-expressed on multiple solid tumor cancers. Boehringer Ingelheim has acquired all rights in and to the program.

MabVax will receive a total of $11 million in upfront and near-term milestones as well as downstream regulatory milestone payments plus further earn-out payments. The asset acquisition is separate and distinct from other programs under development at MabVax, enabling MabVax to retain all rights to its lead HuMab-5B1antibody program which is in Phase I clinical trials as a therapeutic product and as a diagnostic product, as well as other antibody discovery programs from the company's rich antibody discovery portfolio targeting other cancer antigens.