Ambrx, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, entered into a collaboration agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb for the discovery and development of novel antibody drug conjugates using Ambrx's protein medicinal chemistry technology.

Ambrx will receive an upfront payment of $15 million, funding for discovery and research activities, and potential development, regulatory and sales based milestone payments of up to $97 million per product resulting from the collaboration. BMS will receive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize products resulting from the collaboration, and Ambrx will be eligible to receive royalties on net sales. Additional terms were not disclosed.

"Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical leader with expertise developing and commercializing novel medicines for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, and we are pleased to enter into a third collaboration with the company to include another aspect of our technology platform," said Lawson Macartney, Ph.D., CEO of Ambrx. "We look forward to working together to further utilize Ambrx's technology to discover and advance these antibody drug conjugates for oncology indications."

Ambrx and Bristol-Myers Squibb entered into two separate agreements in September 2011 to research, develop and commercialize biologics created with Ambrx's protein medicinal chemistry technology. These therapeutic candidates, which target the Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF-21) protein for the potential treatment of type 2 diabetes, and the Relaxin hormone for the potential treatment of heart failure, are being developed by BMS.