Kuros Biosciences AG (“Kuros” or the “Company”), a leader in next generation bone graft technologies, notes the completion of the acquisition of Checkmate Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CMPI) by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN). The completion triggers a $5 million milestone payment under a license agreement entered into by Kuros and Checkmate in 2015.
Under a royalty purchase agreement entered into by Kuros and XOMA Corporation (NASDAQ: XOMA) in 2021, XOMA is entitled to receive 50% of the milestone payment paid to Kuros as a result of a change of control of Checkmate Pharmaceuticals. Therefore, $2.5 million of the $5 million milestone due to Kuros under the 2015 license agreement will be paid to XOMA.
Under the 2015 licensing agreement with Kuros, Checkmate is investigating vidutolimod (CMP-001), an advanced generation Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) agonist, delivered as a biologic virus-like particle utilizing a CpG-A oligodeoxynucleotide as a key component, across multiple tumor types in combination with several checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapies. Checkmate is conducting multiple clinical trials, including a phase 2 and a phase 2/3 trial in the melanoma indication, which triggered two milestone payments of $2 million and $4 million by Checkmate to Kuros in 2021.
In 2021, XOMA purchased a proportion of the potential future pre-commercial milestone payments and all the potential royalties due under the 2015 license agreement between Kuros and Checkmate Pharmaceuticals under a royalty purchase agreement. Under this royalty purchase agreement, Kuros received an upfront payment of $7 million, retained the potential to receive up to $24 million in pre-commercial milestones from Checkmate, and is eligible to receive up to $142.5 million in sales milestones from XOMA.
Joost de Bruijn, Chief Executive Officer of Kuros, commented: “I would like to congratulate Checkmate on their acquisition by Regeneron and we look forward to Regeneron progressing the licensed technology to market approval.”
