Affimed N.V. (NASDAQ: AFMD) shares more than doubled early on Tuesday after it was announced that the firm entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Genentech to develop and commercialize novel NK cell engager-based immunotherapeutics to treat multiple cancers. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
Under the terms of the agreement, Affimed will receive $96 million in an initial upfront payment and other near-term committed funding. Affimed may be eligible to receive up to an additional $5.0 billion over time, including payments upon achievement of specified development, regulatory and commercial milestones, and royalties on sales.
Prior to the stock jumping, Affimed had a market cap of roughly $100 million.
Affimed will apply its proprietary Redirected Optimized Cell Killing (ROCK) platform to discover and advance innate immune cell engager-based immunotherapeutics of interest to Genentech. The collaboration includes candidate products generated from Affimed’s ROCK platform and multiple undisclosed solid and hematologic tumor targets. Affimed and Genentech will collaborate on the discovery, early research and late-stage research phases. Genentech will be responsible for clinical development and commercialization worldwide.
James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head of Partnering, Roche, commented:
This collaboration is based on Affimed’s innate immune cell drug discovery and development expertise and our team’s deep understanding of cancer immunology. Our partnership with Affimed provides an opportunity to enhance our existing efforts to understand how the immune system can be activated to help people living with cancer.
Shares of Affimed closed Monday at $1.60, with a consensus analyst price target of $6.60 and a 52-week trading range of $1.15 to $2.85. Following the announcement, the stock was up about 169% to $4.30 in early trading indications Tuesday.
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