Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. announced that the company and Oncolys BioPharma Inc. agreed to terminate the license agreement concluded between the two companies on April 8, 2019 for an oncolytic viral immunotherapy OBP-301 (Telomelysin: suratadenoturev) as follows.

The effective date of the termination will be decided upon consultation with Oncolys, at the latest by October 2022. Upon termination of the Agreement, all rights Chugai may have with respect to OBP-301 will be returned to Oncolys. There will be no payment or receipt of milestone fees between the two companies.

Chugai entered into the Agreement with Oncolys on April 8, 2019, and has been developing OBP-301 in Japan. However, Chugai concluded that pursuing the development of the product through collaboration between the two companies will not maximize the product value of the drug. This decision is not attributable to any efficacy or safety issues regarding OBP-301. For the time being, Chugai will continue to conduct ongoing domestic clinical trials and transfer the initiative to Oncolys upon agreement between the two companies.

The Agreement, which will be terminated, granted Chugai an exclusive license, with sublicensing rights, for development, manufacturing and marketing of OBP-301 in Japan and Taiwan as well as exclusive option rights concerning the worldwide development, manufacturing and marketing of OBP-301, excluding Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

According to a company press release, there is no impact on consolidated results for the fiscal year ended December 2021.