AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical, recently signed a deal with Inovio Pharmaceuticals worth $727.5 million. The duo has joined hands to develop an experimental drug that could help prevent human papillomavirus (HPV).

As per a Bloomberg report, AstraZeneca will pay Inovio $27.5 million up front and another $700 million if its medicine reaches certain development and commercial milestones.

The drugs developed are said to be combined with immune oncology products that would help the immune system of the body fight off tumors.

It is not the first such move that AstraZeneca has made recently, as last week the company announced that it was partnering with Heptares Therapeutics and Mirati Therapeutics.

The company hopes these ‘combination therapies’ will help to fight competitors like Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which are battling hard to develop the next generation of cancer treatments.

It has been said that Inovio before collaborating with AstraZeneca thought to work with some of those giants on immune therapies. Chief Executive Officer Joseph Kim said, “It decided to settle the deal with AstraZeneca because the company will do what it takes to leapfrog the other players”.

The vaccine that AstraZeneca is acquiring from Inovio is called INO-3112 and it is presently in its early to mid-stage clinical trials. It vaccine will majorly targets cervical, head, and neck cancers.

As per the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will take on the development costs, and Inovio will get royalties on product sales. Both the companies have an uphill battle, as cancer vaccines so far do not have much great record.

AstraZeneca and Inovio are hoping that the newest drug might change things around. Inovio believes its drug is different because it takes advantage of DNA sequencing technology to activate T-cells that are responsible for going after tumors.