Dx&Vx has landed its first material transfer agreement (MTA) with what it described as a “global pharma giant,” handing over samples of its room-temperature-stable mRNA platform for evaluation, the Korean biotech said Monday.

The MTA marks the company’s first with a multinational drugmaker and follows a due diligence process typical of global licensing deals. The deal gives the partner access to Dx&Vx’s flagship stabilization technology, which claims to preserve mRNA for up to 10 years without cold storage.

Terms of the agreement, including the partner’s identity and the scope of testing, were not disclosed.

The MTA brings the company closer to a potential licensing deal and strengthens its strategic pivot from diagnostics to full-fledged drug development. Originally known as CancerRop, Dx&Vx restructured in 2021 under Coree Group-backed leadership, rebranded, and rebuilt its pipeline around mRNA, RNA-based therapeutics, and gene delivery tools.

Originally developed at Korea’s POSTECH, the mRNA stabilization platform was selected last year for a U.S. ARPA-H national project and is now being pitched globally for out-licensing, according to Dx&Vx. Use cases span mRNA vaccines, DNA vaccines, RNA therapies, aptamers, gene therapies, and genome editing tools.

Under the MTA, the global partner will independently formulate and analyze the material. Dx&Vx said the evaluation typically sets the stage for licensing term sheet negotiations.

“This MTA is a major milestone,” CEO Kwon Kyu-chan said in Monday’s release, noting that the platform’s flexibility allows the company to pursue multiple deals in parallel. In a separate May release, Dx&Vx said it’s also in final-stage talks with a major Korean pharma and expects “tangible results within the year.”