Wragge & Co's Life Sciences team has brokered an innovative licensing agreement between AstraZeneca and a partnership of Belgian life sciences research institutes: the Biotechnology Institute VIB, CD3 and KU Leuven. The deal will see AstraZeneca in-license certain novel molecules from VIB/CD3 and collaborate with academics to explore promising new insights into treatments for inflammatory and cancer diseases.

The agreement, negotiated and drafted by the Wragge & Co team in just three weeks, secures long-term research funding to explore the potential of MALT1 – a naturally occurring protein – as a promising target for potential new treatments of auto-immune disorders and certain types of cancer.

Wragge & Co's Life Sciences team worked across several jurisdictions including Sweden, Belgium and the US to secure the agreement and research will begin imminently.

Dr Luke Kempton, a partner who led on the deal for Wragge & Co, said: "It has been a privilege to bring this deal to a close for AstraZeneca, they are a long-term client and at the cutting edge of developments in the life science sector. The terms of this deal will ensure that this important research has the resources it needs. The deal also brings together the best of academia and the best of industry, a growing trend in research and one we are pleased to be at the forefront of."

The research began when VIB and CD3 launched a collaborative research project aimed at discovering MALT1 inhibitors. It is hoped a better understanding of MALT1 will allow for the development of more effective medicines.

Wragge & Co's 16-strong Life Sciences team is "phenomenal within this space" (Chambers UK 2014). It provides non-contentious, contentious, corporate and regulatory expertise to a global client list which includes; AstraZeneca, Astex Therapeutics, arGEN-X, Eisai and the Medical Research Council.

Team highlights include advising AstraZeneca on a co-development agreement with Amgen; working with GlaxoSmithKline on a €423 million cross-border licensing agreement with biotechnology company MorphoSys AG; and assisting Bial Portela on its license agreement with Japanese company Ono, aimed at the development and commercialisation in Japan of Opicapone, a new treatment for Parkinson's disease. The team also assisted Astex Pharmaceuticals on two significant drug development agreements in the area of oncology and advised ProStrakan on its transaction with Aptalis in relation to Rectiv.