Singapore: X-Body Biosciences entered into an exclusive alliance with Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, in which Hengrui will develop and commercialize a novel antibody program generated from X-Body's antibody platform for Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) in Greater China (including mainland China, Taiwan, Macao, and Hong Kong).

Under the terms of the collaboration, Hengrui will fund and lead all preclinical and clinical development, as well as commercialization efforts, for the Greater China markets. X-Body retains all development and commercialization rights outside of Greater China. Detailed financial terms were not disclosed, however, terms of the alliance include an upfront payment, clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestones, and royalties on revenues from commercialized products.

Dr Lianshan Zhang, president, global R&D, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, said that, "It is an important part of our corporate strategy to partner with biotechs around the world that could provide interesting molecules for us to develop and commercialize, and we are excited to take on board the first of hopefully many development programs from X-Body."

Mr Julius Knowles, CEO, X-Body, "This collaboration with Hengrui, the clear leader in pharmaceutical development in China, is an important step on our path to validate the capabilities of our DNA Display drug discovery platform. We are encouraged to see our platform yield antibodies that could have a meaningful impact on patients' lives, especially for a disease as life-altering as AMD."