Vivalis signs another EB66 out-licensing deal for MAb production

French biotech firm Vivalis (NYSE Euronext: VLS) has signed a joint collaboration and commercial license agreement related to the use of the Vivalis EB66 cell line, for the setting up of an industrial process and the manufacturing of clinical batches of an antibody, proprietary of an unnamed European mid-sized biopharmaceutical company.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Vivalis says they include upfront, milestones payments and royalties. Vivalis is also financed for the process development and the production of clinical batches.

Vivalis recently expanded its MAb discovery program with Sanofi’s subsidiary Sanofi Pasteur under which the biotech company could earn around $44 million (The Pharma Letter January 19) and last year also signed accords with Italy’s Okairos as well as another unnamed company (TPL April 15, 2011). It also has a deal with UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, which has led to the development of an investigational influenza vaccine produced in EB66 cells.