(Alliance News) - C4X Discovery Holdings PLC on Wednesday said it has received payment from AstraZeneca PLC following trials of the C4X respiratory disease therapy treatment.

The Manchester, England-based drug discovery company received USD11.0 million from the Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca.

The payment stems from preclinical progress of C4X's NRF2 Activator programme, an oral therapy for the treatment of inflammatory and respiratory diseases which AstraZeneca is developing following a agreement between the two in November.

In addition to a USD2.0 million upfront payment, the global licencing agreement for the NRF2 Activator entitles C4X to receive up to USD400.0 million in payments following preclinical, clinical development and commercial milestones. The deal also will grant C4X tiered mid-single digit royalties on future sales of the NRF2.

C4X Chief Executive Officer Clive Dix said: "This significant preclinical milestone payment marks the progress AstraZeneca has made in driving the NRF2 Activator programme forward. NRF2 is a challenging target and this achievement provides further validation of our ability to generate differentiated, quality molecules in immuno-inflammation. We believe that our unique approach can deliver transformative oral therapies for patients suffering from immuno-inflammatory diseases. This is a great start to our year and we are confident of seeing further progress across our entire portfolio in 2024."

Shares in C4X were up 12% at 10.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter

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