Japan's Ono Pharmaceutical has entered a drug discovery agreement to discover and develop antibody drugs in the immuno-oncology field with Memo Therapeutics AG (MTx),  an innovator in the field of antibody discovery and development.

Under the terms of the agreement, Swiss firm MTx will leverage its best-in-class microfluidic single-cell molecular cloning and screening technologies to discover antibodies for immuno-oncology targets.

Ono will obtain intellectual property rights and worldwide exclusive rights to develop and commercialise therapeutic drug candidates with antibodies resulting from the collaboration.

Ono will pay to MTx an upfront payment, research funding during the collaboration period, and milestones on progress of clinical development and sales, as well as royalties on future sales.