4SC AG — M&A Activity 2013

Feb 20, 2013

News Details

Corporate | 20 February 2013 07:30

Press Release: 4SC Discovery and BioNTech launch strategic cancer therapy research partnership

4SC AG / Key word(s): Agreement/Alliance

20.02.2013 / 07:30

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Press Release

4SC Discovery and BioNTech launch strategic cancer therapy research partnership

Planegg-Martinsried and Mainz, Germany – 20 February 2013 – 4SC AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard: VSC), a discovery and development company of targeted small molecule drugs for autoimmune diseases and cancer, today announced that its wholly owned research subsidiary 4SC Discovery GmbH has entered into an extensive research partnership in the field of cancer medicine with biopharmaceutical company BioNTech AG, Mainz, Germany.

In this service partnership, which has commenced at the beginning of the year and will run for three years, 4SC Discovery will be commissioned by BioNTech to identify new small molecule anti-cancer drugs for defined therapeutic targets and optimise these for BioNTech. BioNTech is planning to conduct preclinical testing and, if successful, bring the compounds to the clinical development stage.

As part of this collaboration, the two partners are already working on four cancer therapy projects at various stages of early-phase pharmaceutical research.

Under the partnership, BioNTech will pay 4SC Discovery a cost-based service fee as well as success-based payments on achievement of specific development or sales milestones plus royalties linked to future net sales of the products.

This is the second strategic partnership forged by the two companies. In December 2012, 4SC Discovery and BioNTech concluded a license agreement for 4SC Discovery's TLR agonists for use in cancer immunotherapy. Under the agreement, 4SC Discovery received an up-front payment of EUR 2.5 million from BioNTech and is entitled to subsequent success-based payments on achievement of specific sales milestones and to royalties on net sales. In return, BioNTech received an exclusive license for the worldwide marketing and commercialisation rights to the TLR agonists.

Dr. Daniel Vitt, Managing Director of 4SC Discovery GmbH and Chief Scientific Officer of 4SC AG, said: 'We are very pleased to be entering, within such a short time, into a second strategic partnership with BioNTech – a highly innovative pioneer in the field of cancer immunotherapy. We believe that we can make a valuable contribution to BioNTech's research and development success with our expertise in compound screening and the discovery and optimisation of small molecule drug candidates.'

Dr. Ulrich Dauer, Chief Executive Officer of 4SC AG, added: 'This comprehensive partnership with such a reliable and trusted partner as BioNTech will considerably strengthen 4SC Discovery in the long term. This collaboration also brings us closer to our goal of generating a positive operating cash flow with 4SC Discovery as early as this year. Moreover we are pleased to be able to benefit from the possible continued success of the compounds we have co-researched, thereby increasing the potential to further boost 4SC's enterprise value in the future.'

Prof. Dr. Ugur Sahin, Chief Executive Officer of BioNTech AG, noted: 'The partnership with 4SC Discovery – a company with great innovative strength and vast expertise in the discovery and optimisation of small molecule drugs for cancer medicine – is an ideal endorsement of our competencies. This collaboration will help to further extend our portfolio of innovative cancer therapies with synergistic products.'

Ends

About BioNTech AG

BioNTech AG (Biopharmaceutical New Technologies) is a spin-off of Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. As a holding company with six subsidiaries, BioNTech researches and develops novel immune-based technologies to boost the body's immune system for the targeted treatment of numerous cancers. The company owns a number of cancer-specific target structures and uses proprietary technology platforms to develop medicines that are specifically directed against these target structures. BioNTech also researches, develops and manufactures diagnostics for the detection of cancer, based upon identification of selectively expressed biomarkers.

About 4SC Discovery GmbH

4SC Discovery GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of 4SC AG that offers technologies and tailored research services covering drug discovery and chemical optimisation through to a preclinical development candidate. The company focuses its services on offering customers in the pharmaceutical, biotech and chemical industries the cost and time-to-market benefits that result from a drug discovery and optimisation process based on a powerful, computer-aided, screening and discovery platform. In addition, 4SC Discovery also applies its comprehensive pharmacological expertise to investigating new compounds in the areas of cancer and autoimmune disease – a strategy also intended to further enhance the clinical development pipeline for the 4SC Group. 4SC Discovery aims to engage in partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies to accelerate the development of its research programmes and further advance their commercialisation.

About 4SC Group

The Group managed by 4SC AG discovers and develops targeted small-molecule drugs for the treatment of diseases with a high unmet medical need in various autoimmune and cancer indications. These drugs are intended to provide patients with innovative treatment options that are more tolerable and efficacious than existing therapies, and provide a better quality of life. At the end of September 2012, 4SC Group had 90 employees. The company was founded in 1997. 4SC AG has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since December 2005.

Legal Note

This document may contain projections or estimates relating to plans and objectives relating to our future operations, products, or services; future financial results; or assumptions underlying or relating to any such statements; each of which constitutes a forward-looking statement subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Actual results could differ materially, depending on a number of factors.

For more information about 4SC please visit www.4sc.com and www.4sc-discovery.de or contact:

4SC AG

Jochen Orlowski, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations

jochen.orlowski(at)4sc.com, Tel.: +49-89-7007-63-66

MC Services

Raimund Gabriel, Mareike Mohr

raimund.gabriel(at)mc-services.eu, Tel.: +49-89-2102-2830

mareike.mohr(at)mc-services.eu, Tel.: +49-89-2102-2840

The Trout Group

Chad Rubin

Crubin(at)troutgroup.com, Tel.: +1-646-378-2947

For more information on BioNTech, please contact:

Professor Dr. Ugur Sahin

Tel: +49-6131-576-270-14

End of Corporate News

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Language:	English
Company:	4SC AG
	Am Klopferspitz 19a
	82152 Martinsried
	Germany
Phone:	+49 (0)89 7007 63-0
Fax:	+49 (0)89 7007 63-29
E-mail:	public@4sc.com
Internet:	www.4sc.de
ISIN:	DE0005753818
WKN:	575381
Listed:	Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, München, Stuttgart

End of News	DGAP News-Service

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