In a bid to bolster its pneumonia franchise, Aridis has entered into a worldwide license agreement with AstraZeneca to in-license the late-stage monoclonal antibody candidate, suvratoxumab, a Phase III ready asset. With the deal, which is worth up to US$126 M, Aridis will gain a new pipeline asset for pneumonia franchise while AstraZeneca will become a shareholder of Aridis through the issuance of common stock and will have first negotiation rights for future suvratoxumab licencing.