Astellas Pharma, Inc. and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement that will allow Astellas to use Regeneron’s VelocImmune technology in its internal research programs to discover human monoclonal antibody product candidates.

Astellas will pay $20 million upfront and will make as many as five additional annual payments of $20 million. Astellas will also pay royalties on product sales derived from any antibody products discovered using VelocImmune.

“VelocImmune is the centerpiece of Regeneron’s suite of technologies for the discovery and development of fully human monoclonal antibodies,” said George D. Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., president of Regeneron Research Laboratories and Regeneron’s chief scientific officer. “We are pleased that Astellas, a company with a clear strategic commitment to developing therapeutic antibodies, has selected the VelocImmune platform for its internal development programs.”

“We are excited about this license agreement with Regeneron,” said Toshinari Tamura, Ph.D., Astellas’ executive vice president and chief scientific officer. “As described in our recently announced medium term plan, Astellas is building a new technological platform for the development of antibody drugs, and VelocImmune will become an important cornerstone for our R&D capabilities.”