CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

F-star Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSTX) (“F-star”), operating through its subsidiary, F-star Therapeutics Ltd., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering bispecifics in immunotherapy so more people with cancer can live longer and improved lives, today announced that it has entered into a license agreement with Takeda.

Under the terms of the agreement, F-star will grant Takeda a worldwide, exclusive royalty-bearing license to research, develop, and commercialize a bispecific antibody against an immuno-oncology target using F-star’s proprietary Fcab™ and mAb² ™ platforms. Takeda will be responsible for all research, development, and commercialization activities under the agreement. F-star will receive an upfront license fee of $1 million. F-star is also eligible to receive future development and commercialization milestone payments up to approximately $40 million over the course of the agreement if all milestones are achieved, plus single-digit percentage royalties on annual net sales.

Neil Brewis, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of F-star said, “At F-star, we are committed to working towards a cancer-free future and are delighted to partner with Takeda towards a shared goal of developing immunotherapeutics so that more people with cancer can live longer with improved lives. We believe there is enormous potential for our mAb² platform to produce multiple next-generation bispecific antibody therapeutics beyond our current proprietary pipeline and this agreement with Takeda represents F-star’s long-term commitment to realising this potential through partnerships.”

Kathy Seidl, Ph.D., Head of Oncology Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda said, “We have an opportunity at Takeda to lead the discovery and development of novel cancer therapies that leverage the power of the innate immune system. We are eager to build on our relationship with F-star and apply their Fcab technology to diversify and accelerate our gamma delta (γδ) T cell engager portfolio in support of our collective pursuit of life-transforming medicines for patients with cancer.”

About F-star Therapeutics, Inc.

F-star Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering bispecifics in immunotherapy so more people with cancer can live longer and improved lives. F-star is committed to working towards a future free from cancer and other serious diseases through the use of tetravalent (2+2) bispecific antibodies to create a paradigm shift in treatments. The Company has four second-generation immuno-oncology therapeutics in the clinic, each directed against some of the most promising IO targets in drug development, including LAG-3 and CD137. F-star’s proprietary antibody discovery platform is protected by an extensive intellectual property estate. F-star has over 500 granted patents and pending patent applications relating to its platform technology and product pipeline. The Company has attracted multiple partnerships with biopharma targeting significant unmet needs across several disease areas, including oncology, immunology, and CNS.

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Forward-looking statements

Certain statements contained in this communication regarding matters that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, known as the PSLRA. These include statements regarding management’s intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or forecasts for the future, and, therefore, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on them. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. F-star undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by law. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “projects,” “future,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” “guidance,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, which are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Such forward-looking statements are based on our expectations and involve risks and uncertainties; consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the statements due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the cash balances of F-star, the ability of F-star to remain listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, F-star’s status as a clinical stage immuno-oncology company and its need for substantial additional funding in order to complete the development and commercialization of its product candidates, that F-star may experience delays in completing, or ultimately be unable to complete, the development and commercialization of its product candidates, that F-star’s clinical trials may fail to adequately demonstrate the safety and efficacy of its product candidates, that preclinical drug development is uncertain, and some of F-star’s product candidates may never advance to clinical trials, that results of preclinical studies and early stage clinical trials may not be predictive of the results of later stage clinical trials, that F-star relies on patents and other intellectual property rights to protect its product candidates, and the enforcement, defense and maintenance of such rights may be challenging and costly, and that F-star faces significant competition in its drug discovery and development efforts. New factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to predict all such factors, nor can we assess the impact of each such factor on the business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. These risks are more fully discussed in F-star’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents filed from time to time with the SEC. Forward-looking statements included in this communication are based on information available to F-star as of the date of this communication. F-star does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.