By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com — Codex DNA Inc (NASDAQ:DNAY) rose 9.5% on Thursday after news it has entered a research collaboration and license agreement with Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE).
With the agreement, the company and Pfizer will collaborate to improve its BioXP platform and produce "certain materials of interest" for Pfizer.
Codex will own the improved platform and associated intellectual property rights, while Pfizer will own the Pfizer Outputs and associated intellectual property rights.
Pfizer agreed to make an upfront payment of $8 million to Codex, and if certain technical milestones are met, the company could receive an additional $10 million in near-term milestone payments.
In addition, Pfizer has agreed to make milestone payments if the products meet certain clinical milestones, with each product eligible for milestone payments up to $35 million. Codex can also receive a milestone payment of up to $55 million for the exclusive product in each exclusive field.
Furthermore, Pfizer has agreed to pay up to $60 million in sales milestones for products if aggregate net sales meet certain thresholds and up to $180 million in sales milestones for exclusive products if sales meet the requirements.
KeyBanc analyst Paul Knight said the deal provides another key validation of Codex DNA's technology. The analyst currently has an overweight rating and a $30 price target on the shares.