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Agreements

Date: 0000-00-00

Type of information: Licensing agreement

Compound: MGC018,

Company: Macrogenics (USA - MD) Synthon (The Netherlands)

Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology - Technology - Services

Type agreement:

licensing

development

Action mechanism:

antibody drug conjugate

Disease:

Details:

* On December 12, 2016, MacroGenics and Synthon Biopharmaceuticals announced they have entered a license and collaboration agreement for the development of MGC018, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) directed against solid tumors expressing B7-H3. This molecule is based on a MacroGenics proprietary B7-H3 antibody and Synthon's proprietary duocarmycin-based, linker-drug technology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Synthon has licensed rights to its linker-drug technology to MacroGenics to enable future development and commercialization of MGC018. Synthon will also provide manufacturing support and supply ADC to MacroGenics and will be entitled to receive license fees, milestone payments and royalties based on successful development and commercialization of MGC018. Additional details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Based on favorable activity and safety profiles in the non-clinical setting, MacroGenics has selected MGC018 as its lead anti-B7-H3 ADC candidate. MacroGenics has recently initiated IND-enabling studies for this molecule.
MGC018 represents the third molecule in MacroGenics' franchise of B7-H3-directed molecules. In addition to MGC018, MacroGenics is pursuing two other therapeutic product candidates utilizing different and complementary immune-based mechanisms of action. The leading program, enoblituzumab, is an Fc-optimized monoclonal antibody directed against B7-H3 and is currently in clinical testing as both monotherapy and in combination with either pembrolizumab or ipilimumab. The second program, MGD009, also in clinical testing, is a bispecific DART® molecule designed to target tumors expressing B7-H3 by recruiting and expanding T cells at the tumor site. MacroGenics retains worldwide development and commercialization rights to all three of these programs.
While the cytotoxins used in the majority of advanced programs in the field prevent tubulin polymerization during cell division, Synthon's differentiating linker-drug technology ? which applies valine-citrulline-seco-DUocarmycin-hydroxyBenzamide-Azaindole (vc-seco-DUBA) ? is based on synthetic duocarmycin analogs, which bind to the minor groove of DNA and subsequently cause irreversible alkylation of DNA. This disrupts the nucleic acid architecture, which eventually leads to tumor cell death.

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