Hong Kong-based Harbour BioMed announced on Sunday an update and advancement of its global strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca Plc (NASDAQ:AZN), initially established in March 2025.
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Harbour BioMed is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of antibody therapeutics in immunology and oncology.
The collaboration aims to discover and develop next-generation biotherapeutics, including antibody-drug conjugates and T cell engagers.
Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will continue to nominate discovery programs to Harbour BioMed each year over the next four years, reflecting the continued progress of the partnership, and will retain the option to license these programs for further development.
Harbour BioMed will be eligible to receive option and option exercise fees, development and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered royalties on future net sales on such licensed programs.
The economic terms are consistent with the financial framework established in March 2025.
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The collaboration included an option to license multiple programs utilizing Harbour BioMed's proprietary Harbour Mice fully human antibody technology platform in multiple therapeutic areas and a $105 million equity investment by AstraZeneca in Harbour BioMed.
The initial phase of the strategic collaboration will focus on ongoing research programs, with the potential for additional programs. In return, Harbour BioMed will receive an upfront payment, near-term milestone payments, and option exercise fees for additional programs, totaling $175 million, as well as up to $4.4 billion in additional development and commercial milestone payments, along with tiered royalties on future net sales.
The parties also have the option to include additional programs in the collaboration over the next five years, with the option to extend the terms of the agreement for an additional five years upon mutual agreement.
Furthermore, AstraZeneca will acquire 9.15% of the newly issued shares of Harbour BioMed.
AstraZeneca Announces Expansion in Maryland
On Friday, AstraZeneca shared its plans to invest $2 billion to expand its long-standing manufacturing footprint in Maryland.
The update includes a significant expansion of its flagship biologics manufacturing facility in Frederick and the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility in Gaithersburg for the development and clinical supply of innovative molecules to be used in clinical trials.
The investment will support 2,600 jobs across the two sites in the state, including the retention of local roles, construction activity, and the creation of 300 highly skilled jobs.
The Frederick facility currently produces biologics. The planned expansion will nearly double commercial manufacturing capacity, enabling increased supply of existing medicines and, for the first time, production across the company's rare disease portfolio.
It will create 200 highly skilled jobs and 900 construction roles and is expected to be operational in 2029.
In parallel, AstraZeneca will build a new clinical manufacturing facility to expand its footprint in Gaithersburg.
The facility, which will be fully operational by 2029, will create an additional 100 jobs, retain 400 roles, and support a further 1,000 construction-related jobs.
AZN Price Action: AstraZeneca stock is up 0.26% at $91.24 at publication on Monday.
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