Morrison & Foerster assisted Effector Cell Institute, Inc. in their collaborative research agreement with AstraZeneca. The transaction is significant in that it represents one of the first collaborations struck between a Japanese biotech company and a western big pharmaceutical company.

Under the three-year agreement, Effector Cell Institute will receive an up-front payment and a yearly fee for the collaboration, in addition to certain commercial rights to diagnostics tests and assays.

The Morrison & Foerster team was led by Key Shin, with assistance from Gladys Monroy on patent matters.

The specific financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.