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AstraZeneca PLC on Tuesday said it signed a license agreement with RQ Biotechnology Ltd to develop, manufacture and sell Covid antibodies worldwide.
RQ Bio is a company co-founded by LifeArc, a London-based medical charity. ‘RQ Bio today emerges from stealth mode, announcing its launch as a new UK-based biotechnology company,’ LifeArc trumpeted in a separate press release.
The license deal is worth up to $157 million, LifeArc said. RQ Bio will be eligible to receive single digit royalties on sales, it continued. The antibodies against Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, provide instant and long-lasting immunity for vulnerable people at risk of severe disease or death from viral infections, it said. The antibodies are generally used in the early stage of a Covid infection.
Iskra Reic, executive vice president of AstraZeneca's Vaccines & Immune Therapies unit, said: ‘Scientific innovation is rapidly accelerating, and this agreement reflects our continued commitment to the discovery and development of new medicines to help prevent and treat infectious disease, including Covid-19.’
AstraZeneca shares were 0.1% higher at 10,480.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
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