--- title: "NextCure licenses SIM0505 for $12 million upfront" url: "https://aibio.space/news/nextcure-licenses-sim0505-12-million-upfront-agrees-sell-2-0-million/" publisher: "aibio.space (Biotech Investor Relations News)" date: "2025-06-16" section: "Financings" tickers: "NASDAQ:NXTC" source: "https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1661059/000155837025008633/nxtc-20250613x8k.htm" summary: "NextCure agreed to pay Hainan Simcere Zaiming $17 million, including a $12 million upfront payment, for rights to a Phase 1 antibody drug conjugate. A Zaim" --- By the aibio.space news desk. Sources - [NextCure, Inc. Form 8-K filed June 16, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1661059/000155837025008633/nxtc-20250613x8k.htm) - [NextCure, Inc. exhibit nxtc-20250613xex99d1.htm to the June 16, 2025 Form 8-K (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1661059/000155837025008633/nxtc-20250613xex99d1.htm) - [NextCure, Inc. exhibit nxtc-20250613xex10d1.htm to the June 16, 2025 Form 8-K (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1661059/000155837025008633/nxtc-20250613xex10d1.htm) - [NextCure, Inc. Form 10-K filed March 6, 2025: business overview and signatures (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1661059/000155837025002402/nxtc-20241231x10k.htm) [NXTC](https://aibio.space/companies/nextcure/) 2025-06-16 # NextCure licenses SIM0505 for $12 million upfront, agrees to sell $2.0 million in stock Tickers [NXTC](https://aibio.space/companies/nextcure/) NextCure agreed to pay Hainan Simcere Zaiming $17 million, including a $12 million upfront payment, for rights to a Phase 1 antibody drug conjugate. A Zaiming affiliate agreed to buy 4,063,633 shares for $2.0 million, and the company now says its cash lasts into mid-2026, not the second half of 2026 that its March 6 annual report gave. ## Key facts - **Company**: NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTC) - **News type**: Financings - **Primary source**: [NextCure, Inc. Form 8-K filed June 16, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1661059/000155837025008633/nxtc-20250613x8k.htm) *Midtown Manhattan and a downtown tower in haze. CC0, via rawpixel. The picture shows the field, not the companies named.* NextCure, Inc. (Nasdaq: [NXTC](https://aibio.space/companies/nextcure/)) agreed on June 13, 2025 to pay Hainan Simcere Zaiming Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. $17 million for a license to SIM0505, a clinical-stage antibody drug conjugate, or ADC. The payment includes a $12 million upfront cash payment. In a separate deal signed the same day, Simcere Zaiming, Inc., an affiliate of Zaiming, agreed to buy 4,063,633 shares of common stock at about $0.492 per share, for $2.0 million. The company disclosed both in a [Form 8-K](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1661059/000155837025008633/nxtc-20250613x8k.htm) filed June 16, 2025. ## The license NextCure received an exclusive worldwide license, excluding the Zaiming territory of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, to develop, manufacture and sell SIM0505, also known as SCR-9359, and related compounds. It also received a non-exclusive license to use Zaiming's ADC platform for an additional novel target based on NextCure's own antibodies. Zaiming keeps exclusive rights in its territory. Beyond the $12 million upfront, NextCure owes another $5 million, payable on the earlier of a qualifying financing or December 31, 2025. When the first Phase 2 trial of SIM0505 starts, it must also issue Zaiming $1 million in common stock or pay the equivalent in cash. Zaiming is eligible for development and regulatory milestones of up to $166.5 million per Zaiming product and up to $25.5 million per NextCure product, plus sales milestones of up to $535 million. Royalties on net sales run from mid-single digit to low double digit percentages for Zaiming products. ## The private placement The subscription agreement calls for NextCure to issue the 4,063,633 shares three business days after Zaiming receives the upfront payment. The shares are sold under the Section 4(a)(2) exemption and Rule 506 of Regulation D. NextCure must file a resale registration statement no later than 30 days after closing, and it must seek stockholder approval if the issuance requires it. The 8-K does not name a placement agent, underwriter or financial advisor for the placement, and it names no counsel for either side. ## Cash, and a shorter runway NextCure's 2024 annual report on Form 10-K, filed March 6, 2025, said its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities would fund operations into the second half of 2026. At December 31, 2024 the company had $68.6 million in those balances. It reported a net loss of $55.7 million for 2024, down from $62.7 million in 2023, and an accumulated deficit of $380.1 million. The June 2025 8-K says the company believes the same balances will last into mid-2026. It also says the estimate depends on assumptions that may prove incorrect, and that the company could exhaust its capital sooner than it expects. The 8-K does not explain the change. ## The drug and what is still unknown SIM0505 is in Phase 1 dose escalation in China, according to the company's [press release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1661059/000155837025008633/nxtc-20250613xex99d1.htm). NextCure expects a U.S. Phase 1 trial to begin in the third quarter of 2025, and initial Phase 1 data are expected in the first half of 2026. The release says preclinical studies showed robust anti-tumor activity across several solid tumor models. The company's own forward-looking statement warns that positive preclinical results may not predict clinical trial results. The target is CDH6, and the release describes a topoisomerase 1 inhibitor payload. The release says the FDA cleared an investigational new drug application for SIM0505. NextCure's own lead ADC, LNCB74, a B7-H4 targeted ADC developed with LigaChem Biosciences, Inc. under a November 2022 agreement, is in cohort 2 of the dose escalation portion of a Phase 1 trial. The 10-K says the company has incurred significant net losses since its founding in 2015. Michael Richman, president and chief executive officer, said: "We look forward to initiating clinical development of SIM0505 in the United States." That is a plan, not a result. The release names no clinical efficacy data for SIM0505 in patients. ## Who is involved Chief Financial Officer Steven P. Cobourn signed the 8-K. Timothy Mayer, Ph.D., chief operating officer, is the investor contact in the release. Renhong Tang, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Simcere Zaiming, is quoted in the release, which describes Simcere Zaiming as a subsidiary of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. (HKEX: 2096). [Report an error](https://aibio.space/reputation/#correction) ## Companies in this story NXTC NextCure, Inc. NASDAQ ยท United States Open the starter desk ## More in Financings Financings ### [INmune Bio raises $4.50 million in registered direct offering with warrants](https://aibio.space/news/inmune-bio-raises-4-50-million-registered-direct-offering-warrants/) Oct 29, 2026 Financings ### [Lexeo Therapeutics files $300 million shelf registration](https://aibio.space/news/lexeo-therapeutics-files-300-million-shelf-registration/) Oct 29, 2026 Financings ### [ProKidney files $650 million shelf with $200 million Jefferies sales program](https://aibio.space/news/prokidney-files-650-million-shelf-200-million-jefferies-sales-program/) Oct 29, 2026 --- Source page: https://aibio.space/news/nextcure-licenses-sim0505-12-million-upfront-agrees-sell-2-0-million/. Facts in aibio.space stories are checked against company filings and releases; opinion is labelled. Cite as: aibio.space, "NextCure licenses SIM0505 for $12 million upfront", 2025-06-16, https://aibio.space/news/nextcure-licenses-sim0505-12-million-upfront-agrees-sell-2-0-million/