SEATTLE -- NeoRx Corp. announced Wednesday a bindingagreement that provides Sterling Winthrop Inc. with licenses toNeoRx's antibody-labeling technology and pads NeoRx's walletwith cash and stock valued at close to $10 million.

A final agreement, which divvies up the fruits of NeoRx's oldestresearch collaboration, is expected to be completed within 30days, NeoRx said.

Under terms of the agreement announced Wednesday, SterlingWinthrop, a unit of Eastman Kodak & Co., would receive:

-- a non-exclusive license to NeoRx's proprietary technology forlabeling antibodies and other targeting proteins using rhenium-186 and rhenium-188 radionuclides.

-- exclusive rights to certain antibodies for use inradioimmunotheapy (RIT) and non-exclusive rights to theantibodies for other forms of cancer therapy.

NeoRx is to get from Kodak royalties on all Sterling productsthat incorporate NeoRx technology, overseas rights to severalimaging products, $2 million in cash and 2 million NeoRxshares. After the deal is completed, Kodak, an early investor inNeoRx, will still hold about 3.7 million, or about 13 percent, ofNeoRx's shares outstanding.

NeoRx stock (NASDAQ:NERX) closed Wednesday at $3.78 ashare, down 13 cents.

The Kodak agreement, coupled with about $11.6 millionexpected from the sale announced last week of 2.84 millionNeoRx shares to Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim InternationalGmbH, should provide NeoRx with about $13.6 million in newfunding over the next year, said Robert M. Littauer, NeoRx'schief financial officer.

When its recorded as a licensing fee, probably this summer, theKodak funding will likely give NeoRx its first profitable quarterin the company's eight-year history, Littauer said. NeoRx'slosses have been running at about $1 million a month, he said.

Last week's Boehringer agreement will give the Germancompany worldwide manufacturing and marketing rightsoutside North America to NeoRx's OncoTrac cancer-imagingproducts. NeoRx is to receive royalties, an $11.6 millioninvestment for 2.8 million NeoRx shares and an estimated $10million to pay for process development of the licensedproducts.

Kodak's connection to NeoRx goes back to the smallercompany's founding, when Eastman Pharmaceuticals provided$13 million in start-up funding to NeoRx and about $7 millionmore in later-stage financing. It also signed in 1986 acollaboration agreement on several diagnostic products, whicheventually provided nearly $20 million in productdevelopment support to NeoRx and gave Kodak options tolicense several products.

Sterling in 1989 shifted its sights in the NeoRx collaboration toradiotherapeutics, relinquishing the imaging agents that NeoRxis now developing on its own and with three other corporatepartners. The company also has three cancer therapy productin clinical trials.

-- Ray Potter Senior Editor

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.