Investing.com -- Zymeworks Inc (NASDAQ: ZYME) shares rose 5.5% in premarket trading Friday following the announcement of a global license and collaboration agreement with Roche for ZW209, a T cell engager targeting DLL3, in a deal worth up to $813 million.

Under the agreement, Zymeworks will receive a $55 million upfront payment and a $40 million payment upon initiation of the Phase 1b trial. The company is also eligible for up to $718 million in additional development, commercial and sales-based milestone payments, plus tiered high single-digit to mid-teen royalties on global net sales protected by patents extending into the 2040s.

Zymeworks will conduct the Phase 1a monotherapy trial of ZW209 in collaboration with Roche, with Roche funding the Phase 1a trial and assuming responsibility for subsequent global development and commercialization. Roche will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialize ZW209 globally.

ZW209 is a trispecific T cell engager designed to target DLL3-expressing tumor cells while simultaneously engaging T cells via binding to CD3 and CD28. The U.S. FDA has cleared an Investigational New Drug application, with additional global regulatory applications planned to support the opening of clinical study sites outside the U.S.

The transaction remains subject to the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as well as other customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals.

A Phase 1, open-label, multicenter, global study investigating ZW209 has been initiated to evaluate safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary antitumor activity in adult participants with select advanced solid tumors, including small cell lung cancer and other DLL3-expressing neuroendocrine tumors.

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