Press Release
March 20, 2023

OncoC4 Announces Strategic Collaboration with BioNTech to Co-Develop and Commercialize Novel Checkpoint Antibody in Multiple Solid Tumor Indications

The Life Sciences team advised OncoC4 in its agreement with BioNTech SE pursuant to which BioNTech receives an exclusive worldwide license to co-develop and commercialize OncoC4’s next-generation anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody candidate, ONC-392, as a monotherapy or combination therapy in various cancer indications. ONC-392 was designed specifically with the aim of reducing the immune-related adverse effects often associated with CTLA-4 inhibition.

Under the terms of the agreement, OncoC4 will receive a $200 million upfront payment and is eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments as well as double-digit tiered royalties. BioNTech and OncoC4 will jointly develop ONC-392 as monotherapy and in combination with anti-PD-(L)-1 antibodies in a range of solid tumor indications, including NSCLC, until approval, with the parties equally sharing development costs for such studies. All combinations outside of PD-1 inhibition, in particular all combinations with a compound in BioNTech’s pipeline, will be solely developed by BioNTech. BioNTech will hold the exclusive worldwide commercialization rights for any of these products with participation of OncoC4 in certain markets to be negotiated in the future.

OncoC4 is a privately-held, late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is actively engaged in the discovery and development of novel biologics for cancer treatment.

BioNTech is a publicly-listed, next-generation immunotherapy company pioneering novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases.

The Goodwin team was led by Adam Bellack, Kathleen Kean, and David Sackstein with support from Wendy Pan, Kevin Guan, Mayan Katz, Jake Hays, Paul Jin, Kevin Walsh, Daniel Karelitz, Grace Wirth, EA Weeks, Alan Wang, and Emily Beman.

For additional details on the agreement, please read the press release.