Swiss drugmaker Roche has agreed to pay a total of around $270 million to gain access to Eleven Biotherapeutics’ potential eye treatment EBI-031. A humanized monoclonal antibody, EBI-031 potently binds interleukin-6 (IL-6) and inhibits all known forms of IL-6 cytokine signalling. Cytokines are cell signaling molecules in the body that can have significant inflammatory effects.

The drug candidate is being developed to treat eye diseases including diabetic macular edema (DME) and uveitis – inflammation of the eye’s middle layer. The US-based biopharmaceutical company has granted Roche an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize EBI-031 and all other IL-6 antagonist antibody technology that it owns.

In return, Roche will pay $30 million to Eleven Biotherapeutics, including a $7.5 million upfront payment in relation to the effectiveness of the license agreement, and a $22.5 million milestone payment based on the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for EBI-031 becoming effective. Under the terms of the transaction, Eleven Biotherapeutics could receive up to an additional $240 million on reaching certain future regulatory, development and commercialization milestones, as well as royalties for net sales of potential products containing EBI-031, or other IL-6 compounds.

In July, Eleven Biotherapeutics received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administrationy to conduct clinical trials of EBI-031 in DME and uveitis.