ABL Bio said on Monday it has received a $5 million (6.9 billion won) milestone payment from global pharmaceutical giant Sanofi for its ABL301 drug candidate for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. 

In a public filing, the company said the milestone payment is based on the completion of the manufacturing technology transfer of ABL301.

The milestone payment represents 11 percent of ABL Bio's 2023 revenue of 66 billion won. The milestone fee is non-recourse, and under the agreement, Sanofi will pay the amount within 45 days of receipt of an invoice.

Since entering into the approximately 1.5 trillion won technology transfer and co-development agreement with Sanofi for ABL301 in January 2022, ABLBio has received a non-refundable upfront payment of 100 billion won and short-term milestones of 60 billion won.

ABL301 is a bispecific antibody that utilizes Grabody-B, the company's IGF1R-based BBB shuttle platform, which is expected to effectively deliver antibodies that inhibit the accumulation of alpha-synuclein (α-syn), the cause of Parkinson's disease, into the brain.

ABL Bio is conducting a phase 1 clinical trial of ABL301 in collaboration with Sanofi, which is expected to end next year. The manufacturing technology transfer will allow Sanofi to conduct a phase 2 study of ABL301 exclusively.