Roche in up to $422.5 million deal with Inovio Pharma

Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX) has signed an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with US drug developer Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NYSE MKT: INO) to research, develop and commercialize Inovio's highly-optimized, multi-antigen DNA immunotherapies targeting prostate cancer and hepatitis B.

The news saw Inovio’s shares rise 15.8% to $2.57 in mid-morning trading on September 10, with the stock have reached as high as $2.92 at one point.

Under the terms of the deal, Roche will make an upfront payment of $10 million to Inovio, and will also provide preclinical R&D support and payments for near-term regulatory milestones, as well as payments upon reaching certain development and commercial milestones potentially up to $412.5 million. Additional development milestone payments could also be made to Inovio if Roche pursues other indications with INO-5150 or INO-1800. In addition, Inovio is entitled to receive up to double-digit tiered royalties on product sales. The licensed compounds are currently in preclinical development and have generated robust T-cell responses in animal models.