Dx&Vx Signs USD 220 Million Co-Development and License Agreement for mRNA Cancer Vaccine with U.S. Biotech Company

- First global out-licensing deal since founding — tangible return on new drug development investments

- Significant milestone payments and future revenue expected — additional out-licensing of proprietary technologies anticipated

Dx&Vx (DXVX) has signed its first-ever global out-licensing agreement since its establishment.

On July 30, DXVX announced that it has entered into a co-development and license agreement valued at approximately USD 220 million with a U.S.-based biotech company for its mRNA-based cancer vaccine. Revenue sharing post-commercialization will be handled separately.

Through this agreement, DXVX will grant its partner exclusive global rights to its patented mRNA-based cancer vaccine. The partner company will pay DXVX a total of approximately USD 220 million in development milestones and, following commercialization, sales-based milestone payments exceeding 10% of cumulative sales over a period of more than 15 years. Given the vast size and growth potential of the global oncology and cancer vaccine markets and the expected market share, DXVX projects that post-commercialization sales milestone revenues could exceed USD 940 million.

Even after the out-licensing, DXVX will remain responsible for leading R&D activities necessary for commercialization, including preclinical studies, Phase 1–3 clinical trials, and production. The partner company will be responsible for global regulatory approvals and sales. Other specific terms remain confidential by mutual agreement.

The mRNA-based cancer vaccine covered under this license agreement is part of DXVX's proprietary pipeline and has demonstrated superior anticancer efficacy in preclinical animal studies compared to global competitors currently undergoing Phase 2b trials. DXVX has completed patent applications for the compound. In addition, the candidate utilizes DXVX's proprietary long-term ambient storage mRNA vaccine platform technology, securing a technological edge over competitors.

The partnering U.S. biotech company possesses RNA-based drug development and diverse platform technologies. Following their first partnering meeting at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference and Biotech Showcase this January, the partner recognized DXVX's technological strengths, leading to the rapid conclusion of this agreement.

Kevin Kwon, CEO of DXVX, stated, "We are very pleased to sign our first global out-licensing agreement. We sincerely appreciate our partner's recognition of our technological strength," adding, "We believe this agreement will positively influence additional licensing discussions currently underway for other pipelines."

Meanwhile, DXVX's largest shareholder is Chong-Yoon Lim, Chairman of COREE and eldest son of the founder of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group. In addition to the mRNA cancer vaccine, DXVX is developing several pipeline assets, including a long-term ambient storage mRNA vaccine platform, an oral anti-obesity therapeutic, and OVM-200, a peptide-based cancer vaccine, and other pipelines. The company is currently in licensing discussions with multiple domestic and international pharmaceutical and biotech companies.