Crescendo and Takeda Collaborate on Humabody Therapeutics

On Oct. 10, 2016, Crescendo Biologics and Takeda announced that they have entered into a collaboration and license agreement for Humabody-based therapeutics. Humabody products are a novel class of small, robust, and potent protein therapeutics based on fully human VH domain building blocks, Crescendo noted on their website. Crescendo will use its proprietary transgenic platform and engineering expertise to discover and optimally configure Humabody candidates (Humabody Drug Conjugates and Immuno-Oncology modulators) against multiple targets selected by Takeda.

Under the terms of the agreement, Crescendo is eligible to receive up to $36 million, in a combination of an upfront payment, investment, research funding, and preclinical milestones. Takeda will have the right to develop and commercialize Humabody-based therapeutics resulting from the collaboration. Crescendo is also eligible to receive further clinical development, regulatory, and sales-based milestone payments of up to $754 million. In addition, Crescendo will be eligible to receive royalties on Humabody-based product sales by Takeda.