US headquartered Pandion Therapeutics, Inc., and Japan based Astellas Pharma Inc. have announced the signing of a License and Collaboration Agreement directed toward the research, development, and commercialization of locally acting immunomodulators for autoimmune diseases of the pancreas.

The collaboration will allow the parties to combine Pandion’s modular biologics and functional immunology expertise with Astellas' advanced therapeutics development and global commercialization capabilities for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Pandion will be responsible for design and discovery of bispecific drug candidates based on Pandion's proprietary modular immune effector and tissue tether platform and Astellas will be responsible for conducting preclinical, clinical and commercialization activities for the selected candidates developed during the collaboration.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pandion could receive up to $45 million as upfront and payments related to research and preclinical activities. Additionally, if Astellas develops and commercializes multiple candidates for multiple pancreatic autoimmune diseases, Pandion is potentially eligible to receive more than $750 million in future development and commercial milestone payments from Astellas. Pandion may also receive royalties on worldwide net sales of any commercial products developed through the collaboration.