NEW YORK (360Dx) – Cancer detection firm Oncimmune announced on Tuesday that it has signed a licensing agreement for its EarlyCDT autoantibody-based diagnostics platform in China.
Under the terms of the deal, Hong Kong-based Genostics will have the exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute EarlyCDT products in China, as well as the development of future EarlyCDT products in the region. The manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of Oncimmune's EarlyCDT-Lung test for lung cancer will be handled by Shanghai-based GeneTech, a subsidiary of Genostics’ parent firm Gene Group Holdings.
Genostics has also agreed to buy approximately 6.4 million new ordinary shares of Oncimmune at a price of £1.56 each ($2.11) — a 49 percent premium to the stock's trading price on Dec. 29 on the London Stock Exchange. The £10 million equity investment will be made in two tranches during the first quarter. Genostics will also receive a seat on Oncimmune's board.
Genostics is expected to begin selling EarlyCDT-Lung within 36 months, pending the test's approval by Chinese regulators. Oncimmune will receive a roughly .8 percent royalty on gross revenues, subject to minimum royalty payments over the first six years of £15.7 million and £5 million each year thereafter.
The deal with Genostics comes a little less than a year after Oncimmune signed distribution deals for EarlyCDT-Lung — which launched in the US in 2012 — covering Israel and South Korea.