Date: 2011-04-27
Type of information: Licensing agreement
Compound: therapeutic antibodies that recognize and block the function of CCR4* AT008 program
Company: Affitech (Denmark) Cancer Research Technology (UK)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: licensing
collaboration
Action mechanism: interference with CCR4-expressing cells to block cancer growth and spread for a range of solid tumour types.
Disease: solid tumors
Details: Affitech has signed a license agreement with Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the commercial arm of Cancer Research UK. The agreement grants Affitech exclusive rights to a CRT patent application and relevant know how to develop and use therapeutic antibodies that recognize and block the function of CCR4, a protein found on certain tumors - including early and late stage cervical cancer and esophageal cancer.Affitech will continue to develop its existing anti-CCR4 antibody program AT008, which is currently in pre-clinical development, and Affitech will be able to use any candidate identified in that program in the future for the licensed diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
Coinciding with the license deal, Cancer Research Technology, Affitech and QMUL have also signed a collaborative agreement to provide pre-clinical validation for Affitech’s AT008 program – with the aim of proving the potential of the AT008 program as a new drug program to treat cancer using techniques developed in Professor Balkwill’s laboratory. This program will be fully funded by Affitech.
Financial terms: Under the license, Cancer Research Technology will receive an initial signature payment, as well as pre-clinical and clinical development milestone payments, and royalties on sales of CCR4 antibodies developed by Affitech. Cancer Research Technology retains rights to the therapeutic use in solid tumors of antibodies against CCL17 and CCL22 – the chemokine molecules which bind to CCR4 receptor to trigger cellular responses.
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