Mayo Clinic has signed another licensing deal with
TapImmune
, a biotechnology firm that Mayo has worked closely with for at least six years.
On June 1, the deal was signed to give TapImmune "an exclusive licensing option agreement" with Rochester's Mayo Foundation for "clinical development of a new HER2/neu+ breast cancer vaccine technology." The technology was developed in the laboratory of Keith Knutson, Ph.D. at Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic and Dr. Knutson have a financial interest in this technology.
TapImmune paid Mayo Clinic "an initial upfront payment of $300,000" on June 3 for a worldwide license "to make, sell and use products for therapeutic use against breast, ovarian, lung and any other cancers that overexpress Her2/Neu antigens."
In addition to the initial upfront payment, TapImmune also agreed to pay an annual license maintenance fee, milestone fees and royalty fees.
Mayo Clinic has worked with TapImmune at least since 2010, when Mayo's well-known Dr.Gregory Poland was working with them to develop a smallpox vaccine.
TapImmune has since licensed many things from Mayo Clinic as well as regularly collaborating on project. The relationship became so close, that TapImmune moved from Bellevue, Wash. to Jacksonville, Fla. in 2015 to be closer to Mayo Clinic collaborators.
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On Sept. 15, 2015, TapImmune announced that the Mayo Foundation had been awarded a grant of $13.3 million from the U.S. Department of Defense. This grant is being used cover the costs for a 280 patient Phase II Clinical Trial of Folate Receptor Alpha Vaccine in patients with Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
