Affinivax grants Astellas rights to pneumococcal vaccine

Affinivax Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) granted Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo:4503) exclusive, worldwide rights to its lead vaccine candidate targeting Streptococcus pneumoniae to treat pneumococcal disease.

Astellas will lead and fully fund development of the program, which uses the biotech’s Multiple Antigen Presenting System (MAPS) platform. Affinivax declined to disclose a timeline, but said it is close to completing preclinical studies and submitting an IND...