Oslo, Norway, 14th of November 2022 – Targovax ASA (OSE: TRVX) and Hubro
Therapeutics AS (Hubro) today announce that they have entered into an asset
purchase agreement whereby Hubro acquires Targovax’s GM-CSF (Granulocyte
macrophage colony-stimulating factor) process development and production
project.
Under the agreement, Hubro will make a cash payment to Targovax of 10MNOK for the
acquisition of the GM-CSF project. Targovax retains conditional buy-back and supply
options, and a share in gross proceeds in the event of a re-sale of the asset within a
time-limited period.
Jon Amund Eriksen, Chief Executive Officer of Hubro, said: “For the commercial
development of our therapeutic and prophylactic cancer vaccines it is important for us to
have full control over production and supply of all pharmaceutical active components,
including GM-CSF. We are therefore delighted for having the opportunity to take over the
GM-CSF development project from Targovax, which will provide significant savings of
development costs and time towards obtaining the high-quality product we need for pivotal
clinical development and later marketing of our cancer vaccines.”
GM-CSF is an immuno-modulator used for protein and peptide-based vaccines and was the
adjuvant component of Targovax’s first generation mutant RAS TG vaccine products.
Following a collaboration agreement with Agenus Inc. [NASDAQ: AGEN] announced earlier
in 2022, Targovax will develop its next generation mutant RAS TG vaccines with Agenus ́
proprietary adjuvant QS-21 STIMULON. Two clinical trials with Targovax ́s lead mutant
RAS candidate TG01 adjuvanted by QS-21 STIMULON are expected to open during 2022.
The GM-CSF asset purchase agreement with Hubro ensures the continued development of
the GM-CSF adjuvant product, which will serve as an integral part of Hubro’s technology
platform. Hubro aims at introducing its own developed GM-CSF product in clinical testing
as an adjuvant for its peptide cancer specific vaccines in 2024.
