MacroGenics, a privately held biotechnology company that develops next generation antibody therapeutics, has entered into a license agreement with Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company focused on unmet medical needs, for the development and commercialization of Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting (DART) products directed at up to four undisclosed targets.

MacroGenics' DART technology is a proprietary, bi-specific antibody platform in which a single recombinant molecule is able to target two different antigens.

MacroGenics could receive a total of up to $30 million in license fee payments, and up to an additional $85 million in pre-clinical milestones across the four DART programs. Gilead has exclusive worldwide rights for three of the programs. For one program, MacroGenics retains development and commercialization rights outside of North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, which encompasses multiple major markets including Japan, China, Korea, Brazil, Russia and others. Gilead will fully fund MacroGenics' research activities with respect to the four programs. MacroGenics could also receive up to approximately $1 billion in clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments if all four programs achieve the requisite milestones. Finally, MacroGenics may receive tiered (up to low double-digit) royalties on future net sales.

"We look forward to building a long-term collaboration with MacroGenics, a leader in the development of bi-specific antibodies, which represents a promising new area of research," said Roy D. Baynes, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president, oncology and inflammation therapeutics, Gilead Sciences. "This partnership underscores Gilead's commitment to developing innovative therapies that address significant unmet medical needs for patients with cancer and other life-threatening diseases."