Vectorite Biomedical Inc (鑫品生醫), which offers a service to preserve immune cells, has signed a more than 12 million yuan (US$1.93 million) technology transfer deal with China-based Grandhope Biotech Co (冠昊生物科技).
Grandhope Biotech will pay Vectorite 6 million yuan up front, with another 6 million to be paid within one month and another undisclosed amount within the next six months, Vectorite chairman Rex Pan (潘俊佑) said yesterday.
Both companies have set a target to preserve the immune cells of 650,000 patients in China in 10 years, Pan said.
Under the deal, Vectorite would receive of 5 percent of the sales from every case Grandhope Biotech handles, with payment set at a minimum of 4,000 yuan per case, Pan said.
If Grandhope Biotech fails to reach the milestones set out under the deal, Vectorite can renegotiate its partnership with the company, Pan said.
“The deal could provide Vectorite with a source of sustainable income for the next 10 years,” Pan said.
Last year, Vectorite reported losses of NT$28.45 million, or NT$1.14 per share, while in 2012, the company’s losses were NT$97.79 million, or NT$13.38 per share.
However, its revenue increased about nine-fold to NT$36.6 million last year from NT$4.05 million a year earlier, the company said.
Since Taiwan has not yet legalized immune cell therapy, about 98 percent of Vectorite’s sales come from preserving immune cells, it said.
From January through last month, Vectorite posted revenue of NT$2.5 million, down 47.98 percent from the NT$4.81 mil from the deal with Grandhope Biotech is expected to boost Vectorite’s revenue this year, but the Taiwanese company is still likely to remain in the red this year, Pan said.
He said the pharmaceutical firm plans to shift its listing to the GRETAI Securities Market in the first half of next year from the Emerging Stock Market, where its shares closed at NT$78.80 yesterday.
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