Zymeworks and GSK Expand 2016 Azymetric Bispecific Agreement

Zymeworks Inc. (NYSE/TSX: ZYME), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing multifunctional biotherapeutics, today announced that GSK has expanded its 2016 licensing and collaboration agreement with Zymeworks for the research, development, and commercialization of bispecific antibodies across multiple disease areas. Under the expanded agreement, GSK will now have access to Zymeworks’ unique heavy-light chain pairing technology, part of its proprietary Azymetric platform. Zymeworks’ Azymetric platform enables the development of bispecific and multifunctional therapeutics while maintaining the characteristics of naturally-occurring human antibodies.

“We are pleased to see GSK broaden their technology license and believe that it reflects their increased commitment to develop differentiated bispecific therapeutics,” said Ali Tehrani, Ph.D., President and CEO of Zymeworks. “As part of this expansion, GSK expects to use our Azymetric technology to develop bispecifics for the treatment of infectious diseases, which highlights the utility of our platform beyond traditional indications like oncology and inflammatory disease.”

Under the updated terms of the expanded agreement, GSK will have the option to develop and commercialize bispecific drugs across different disease areas and Zymeworks will be eligible to receive increased preclinical, development and commercial milestone payments. If all six programs are developed and commercialized, the new potential value of the collaboration would be up to US$1.1 billion. Additionally, Zymeworks is eligible to receive increased tiered royalties on worldwide sales.

About the Azymetric Platform

The Azymetric platform enables the transformation of monospecific antibodies into bispecific antibodies, giving the antibodies the ability to simultaneously bind two different targets. Azymetric bispecific technology enables the development of multifunctional biotherapeutics that can block multiple signaling pathways, recruit immune cells to tumors, enhance receptor clustering degradation, and increase tumor-specific targeting. These features are intended to enhance efficacy while reducing toxicities and the potential for drug resistance. Azymetric bispecifics have been engineered to retain the desirable drug-like qualities of naturally occurring antibodies, including low immunogenicity, long half-life, and high stability. In addition, they are compatible with standard manufacturing processes with high yields and purity, potentially significantly reducing drug development costs and timelines.