TOKYO & ZURICH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Numab Therapeutics AG (Numab) today announced the initiation of a partnership with Eisai, Co., Ltd (Eisai), under a research and option agreement, to discover and develop novel multi-specific antibody immunotherapies for cancer, using Numab?s proprietary MATCH? platform.

?giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides?

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Under the terms of the agreement, Eisai has the option to acquire an exclusive license to develop and commercialize novel multi-specific antibody-based molecules that emerge from their research collaboration with Numab. In exchange, Numab will receive from Eisai an upfront payment and research funding and is eligible to receive success fees, milestone payments and tiered royalties on sales. Dr. David Urech, CEO of Numab, said: ?We are excited to enter into this partnership with Eisai, a company with a distinguished track-record of providing innovative treatment options for patients suffering from cancer. We look forward to collaborating with Eisai and applying Numab?s MATCH? platform with the goal of leveraging multi-specific technology to generate cancer therapeutics that provide superior efficacy and safety compared to benchmark immunotherapies.? Dr. Takashi Owa, Vice President, Chief Medicine Creation and Chief Discovery Officer, Oncology Business Group at Eisai, said: ?We highly value this partnership with Numab, whose versatile technology platform can produce plug-and-play multi-specific immunotherapies with outstanding biophysical properties and efficacy-to-safety profiles. Like Numab, we believe that engineering multi-specific drugs is a very promising strategy to enhance patient responses and overcome several limitations faced by mono-specific drugs and combinations thereof. We are excited to be working together with Numab to potentially bring next-generation antibody drugs to patients.? About Eisai Co., Ltd. Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our corporate mission as ?giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides,? which we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With approximately 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realize our?hhc?philosophy by delivering innovative products in various therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs, including Neurology and Oncology. As a global pharmaceutical company, our mission extends to patients around the world through our investment and participation in partnership-based initiatives to improve access to medicines in developing and emerging countries. For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit?www.eisai.com About Numab Numab Therapeutics AG is a biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing next-generation therapies for cancer and auto-immune disease. We apply our proprietary antibody discovery engine, Fv-stabilizing ?cap? technology and MATCH? platform to generate highly versatile multi-specific antibodies with best-in-class properties. Multi-specific MATCH molecules comprise antibody Fvs with fully human frameworks, are highly stable and readily accommodate plug-and-play engineering of novel mechanisms of action (e.g., tumor-targeting T cell-engagers), with superior efficacy and favorable safety profiles. For more information about Numab Therapeutics AG, please visit?www.numab.com