Benzinga | Dec 17, 2021 07:15AM EST

Dyadic Reports Research, License, Collab Deal With J&J's Janssen For Manufacture Of Therapeutic Protein Candidates Using Its C1 Platform

Dyadic International, Inc. ("Dyadic", "we", "us", "our", or the "Company") (NASDAQ:DYAI), a global biotechnology company focused on further improving, applying, and deploying its proprietary C1-cell protein production platform to accelerate development, lower production costs and improve the performance of protein based vaccines and therapeutics, announced that it has entered into a Research, License and Collaboration Agreement ("Agreement") with Janssen Biotech, Inc. (''Janssen"), one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. The Agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

Under the terms of the Agreement:

* Janssen will pay Dyadic an upfront payment of $500,000 for non-exclusive rights to utilize the C1 platform to develop C1 production cell lines for the manufacturing of Janssen's therapeutic protein candidates against several biologic targets.

* Janssen will provide R&D funding up to (euro)1.6 million to develop and assess C1 production cell lines for its product candidates.

* Janssen has the option to pay a mid-seven figure payment for an exclusive license from Dyadic to use the C1 platform for the manufacturing of therapeutic proteins directed to one specific target.

* Further, Janssen has an option to obtain the following rights from Dyadic. Upon exercise of the option, Dyadic would receive a milestone payment in the mid-seven figures and Janssen would have the right to add additional non-exclusive targets to the collaboration. Dyadic would complete C1 platform technology transfer, fully enabling Janssen to internally develop C1 cell lines against licensed targets; upon successful completion of technology transfer, Dyadic is eligible to receive a milestone payment in the low seven figures.

* For each product candidate, Dyadic could receive development and regulatory milestones in the mid-seven figures.

* Dyadic could receive commercial milestone payments in the low nine figures per product, subject to a limit on the number of such products. The amount will depend on the cumulative amount of active pharmaceutical ingredient produced by Janssen for each product manufactured with Dyadic's C1 platform.

"We are excited to announce this strategic partnership with Janssen using our C1-cell protein production platform. We continue to expand our partnerships across a growing number of therapeutic areas, and we continue to believe in the broad utility of Dyadic's C1 technology," said Mark Emalfarb, Dyadic's President and Chief Executive Officer.