Sinovant Sciences and Roivant Sciences have announced the launch of Cytovant Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative cellular therapeutics in Asia.

Cytovant will focus on development programs that have the potential to transform the treatment of diseases that are prevalent in Asian patients.

Concurrent with the company's launch, Cytovant has entered into a multi-program license and collaboration agreement with Medigene AG, a clinical stage biotechnology company focusing on the development of T cell immunotherapies.

Medigene has granted Cytovant exclusive licenses to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Medigene's research-stage T cell immunotherapy targeting NY-ESO-1 as well as a DC vaccine targeting WT-1 and PRAME, in Greater China, South Korea, and Japan.

In addition, Cytovant and Medigene have entered into a strategic collaboration and discovery agreement for T-cell receptor (TCR) immunotherapies for two additional targets. Medigene will be responsible for the generation and delivery of the TCR constructs using its proprietary TCR discovery and isolation platform.

Following this research collaboration period, Cytovant will assume sole responsibility for the development and commercialization of these TCR therapies in the relevant countries. The TCRs to be generated by Medigene will be tailored specifically to Asian patients.

Under the terms of the transaction agreements, Medigene will receive an overall upfront payment of USD 10 million as well as potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments which in aggregate could total over USD 1 billion for the four products across multiple indications. 

Furthermore, Medigene will be eligible to receive royalty payments on net sales of the products in a low double-digit percentage in the relevant countries. Additionally, Cytovant will reimburse all R&D costs incurred by Medigene within the collaboration.