Ichnos Sciences a global biotechnology company developing innovative biologics in oncology and autoimmune diseases, and Almirall, a global biopharmaceutical company focused on skin health, announced that they have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for the IL-1RAP antagonist ISB 880. Under the agreement, Almirall is granted global rights to develop and commercialize this monoclonal antibody for autoimmune diseases. Ichnos will retain rights for antibodies acting on the IL-1RAP pathway for oncology indications.

Within the terms of the agreement, Almirall will assume full cost and responsibility for the global development and commercialization of the compound for all autoimmune disease indications. Ichnos will receive an upfront payment of Euro 20.8 million as well as additional development and commercial milestone payments and tiered royalties based upon future global sales.

ISB 880 is a first-in-class fully human, high-affinity monoclonal antibody that targets human IL-1RAP. Blockade of IL-1RAP simultaneously abrogates multiple disease drivers among the IL-1 family of pro-inflammatory cytokine receptors, including IL1R, IL-33R, and IL-36R, differentiating ISB 880 from single cytokine blockade therapies. These cytokines have been implicated in numerous autoimmune conditions, opening opportunities for ISB 880 to be positioned across broad disease indications. IND-enabling work has been conducted and filings with regulatory authorities are under development.

"This is an exciting step forward for Ichnos as we enhance our focus on oncology and accelerate the pipeline of multispecific antibodies based on our proprietary, BEAT platform," said Cyril Konto, M.D., President and CEO of Ichnos. "ISB 880 antiIL-1RAP antagonist illustrates Ichnos' core capabilities in biologics discovery and manufacturing, as well as its strategy to advance a pipeline with potential first- or best-in-class assets. Almirall's excellent team is well-positioned to take ISB 880 through testing and development to deliver this potential new treatment to patients."

"Given its novel mechanism of action, we believe that ISB 880 has great potential to treat underserved patients across a range of autoimmune dermatological diseases," said Karl Ziegelbauer, Ph.D., CSO of Almirall. "We look forward to beginning to work on ISB 880 and based on the significant data generated by Ichnos we plan to initiate the first-in-human study in the first half of 2022."