(Yicai) Oct. 12 -- BioNTech has struck a deal with MediLink Therapeutics for the worldwide rights to its new cancer drug, making it the fifth Chinese drugmaker that the German biotech firm has partnered so far this year.

MediLink will grant BioNTech exclusive rights to develop, produce, and market its antibody-drug conjugate outside of the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, the Suzhou-based firm said in a statement today.

BioNTech will make an initial down payment of USD70 million to MediLink as well as future milestone payments potentially exceeding USD1 billion. 

MediLink’s ADC takes the Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 3 as the target, which is key to multiple tumors such as non-small-cell lung cancer and breast cancer, and is closely relevant to tumor metastasis and disease progression.

The drug has shown strong potential so far, and MediLink pointed out that there are not yet any HER3-targeted therapies in the global market, so the drug has huge potential. 

Founded in 2008, BioNTech rose to fame during the pandemic for its success in quickly developing a Covid-19 mRNA jab. The Mainz-based firm later partnered with China’s Fosun Pharma on Covid mRNA vaccine development and commercialization. 

This year, BioNTech has sped up its joint development with Chinese drugmakers and has signed deals with Acrolmmune Group, Duality Biologics, Doer Biologics and Biotheus since March. Each of these partnerships is based on treatments for cancer. 

Established in 2020, MediLink focuses on developing innovative ADCs and it has R&D facilities in Shanghai and Boston.

Editor: Tom Litting