PsiOxus Therapeutics out-licenses NG-348, its first 'armed' oncolytic virus

PsiOxus Therapeutics, an Imperial Innovations (AIM: IVO) portfolio company, has out-licensed exclusive worldwide rights to NG-348, a pre-clinical stage, “armed” oncolytic virus which may serve as a novel mechanism to address solid tumors.

Under the terms of the agreement, US pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) will pay PsiOxus a $50 million upfront payment and will be solely responsible for global clinical development and commercialization activities related to NG-348. PsiOxus is also eligible to receive up to $886 million in development, regulatory and sales-based milestones, and in addition, royalties on net sales. Bristol-Myers will also be responsible for providing PsiOxus funding to support activities related to the preclinical development of NG-348.

PsiOxus is an Oxford-based immuno-oncology company that has developed a patented platform for the systemic delivery of tumor-targeted oncolytic immune therapeutics. NG-348 is the first of PsiOxus’ viruses to use its proprietary Tumor-Specific Immuno-gene Therapy (T-SIGn) platform to “arm” the virus with additional immuno-therapeutic transgenes. This makes possible the creation of a broad range of systemically delivered oncolytic immune therapeutics, including oncolytic viruses that express one or more antibodies, cytokines, immunomodulatory proteins, and nucleotide (RNA)-based payloads.