French biotech Calixar has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, granting the US company exclusive rights to its technology and expertise to conduct research and discovery of antibodies against an undisclosed target in various therapeutic fields.

Financial terms were not disclosed for the deal that calls for Regeneron to make upfront and milestone payments to Calixar.

Lyon-based Calixair specializes in native membrane protein stabilization, and its technology is geared toward identifying therapeutic targets, in particular native and functional ion channels.

While conventional approaches modify protein through deletions or point mutations, the French company focuses on modifying the chemical environment to adapt it to the protein or antigen chemistry. This, it says, enables conservation of the functional and structural integrity of targets and/or antigens, which is “highly beneficial for the quality of such membrane proteins.”

Emmanuel Dejean, CEO of Calixar, called the pact with Regeneron “a key milestone” for his company’s collaboration with the US biotech as well as for its broader approach to achieve what it called “the best biochemistry development of high-quality antibodies and lead candidates with the optimal chance of becoming future blockbusters that address unmet medical needs”