Benzinga | Aug 2, 2021 07:02AM EDT

Arcturus Therapeutics Collaborates With Vingroup To Establish Manufacturing Facility In Vietnam For Arcturus' Investigational mRNA Vaccines For COVID-19; Co. To Receive $40M Upfront Payment And Potential Royalties Based On Vaccines Produced

Arcturus will receive $40 million upfront payment and potential royalties based on vaccines produced

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. ((the "Company", "Arcturus", NASDAQ:ARCT), a leading clinical-stage messenger RNA medicines company focused on the development of infectious disease vaccines and significant opportunities within liver and respiratory rare diseases, announced today an agreement with Vinbiocare Biotechnology Joint Stock Company ("Vinbiocare"), a member of Vingroup Joint Stock Company, regarding a collaboration to establish a manufacturing facility in Vietnam for the manufacture of Arcturus' investigational COVID-19 vaccines, for sale and use within Vietnam.

Under the terms of the arrangement, Vinbiocare will, with consultation from Arcturus, build out a manufacturing facility in Vietnam, and Arcturus will provide to Vinbiocare access to proprietary technologies and processes for the manufacture of Arcturus' investigational COVID-19 vaccines. Arcturus will provide Vinbiocare with an exclusive license to manufacture the vaccines in Vietnam at the facility solely for distribution in Vietnam. The license and technology transfer applies toward drug product manufacturing but not toward mRNA drug substance manufacturing. Technology transfer is underway.

Vinbiocare will make an upfront payment of $40 million and be responsible for costs associated with the technology transfer. Vinbiocare will also pay for mRNA drug substance supplied by Arcturus and royalties on vaccines produced at the Facility.

Arcturus investigational COVID-19 vaccines utilize Arcturus' self-transcribing and replicating (STARR(tm)) mRNA technology, and the STARR(tm) mRNA is delivered with Arcturus's lipid-mediated delivery system called LUNAR(r) delivery system.

"We are very pleased to announce this relationship with Vingroup, and this contract with its subsidiary Vinbiocare, to help establish a manufacturing facility for our COVID-19 vaccine candidate, targeting a capacity of up to 200 million doses per year. We are looking forward to having a meaningful role in providing effective and safe COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam as well as other countries around the world," said Joseph Payne, President and CEO of Arcturus.