Agreements

Date: 2017-09-17

Type of information: Milestone

Compound: bispecific antibody therapeutic candidates generated through use of the Azymetric™ platform

Company: Merck&Co (USA - NJ) Zymeworks (Canada)

Therapeutic area: undisclosed

Type agreement: development - licensing - commercialisation

Action mechanism:

bispecific antibody. Bispecific antibodies are designed to bind to two different drug targets for broad use in clinical applications such as oncology or autoimmune disease. Bispecific antibodies developed using Zymeworks' Azymetric™ platform resemble conventional mono-specific antibodies while incorporating two different Fab domains to bind to different antigens or drug targets. Azymetric™ antibodies spontaneously assemble into a single molecule comprising two unique heavy and light chain pairs and are manufactured using conventional monoclonal antibody processes.
Antibodies developed using the Azymetric™ platform, unlike native antibodies, consist of two different heavy chains engineered to exclusively assemble into a single molecule, thereby allowing bi-specific binding of two different antigens or drug targets. Due to having two different but complementary heavy chain subunits, Azymetric antibodies are classified as “heterodimeric” antibodies. Similar to natural antibodies, heterodimeric antibodies retain long serum half-lives and the ability to induce effector function.

Disease:

Details:

• On August 29, 2011, Zymeworks announced a research collaboration with Merck&Co around Zymeworks’ proprietary Azymetric™ platform for the development of novel bispecific antibody therapeutic candidates. Under the terms of the agreement Zymeworks has granted Merck&Co, through a subsidiary, a worldwide license to develop and commercialize bi-specific antibodies generated through use of the Azymetric™ platform toward certain exclusive therapeutic targets. Both companies will collaborate to advance the technology platform, with Merck&Co working to progress the bispecific therapeutic antibody candidates through clinical development. Merck&Co will have exclusive worldwide commercialization rights to products derived from the collaboration.

Financial terms:

Zymeworks will receive an upfront fee and is eligible to receive research, development and regulatory milestones with a potential value of up to US $187 million, as well as tiered royalty payments on sales of products.

Latest news:

• On September 19, 2017, Zymeworks announced that Merck&Co has provided formal notification of their plans to advance a bispecific drug candidate into preclinical development. The drug candidate was developed using Zymeworks’ proprietary Azymetric™ and EFECT™ platforms as part of an existing research and license Agreement between the two companies.
• On December 9, 2014, Zymeworks announced the extension of the research collaboration with Merck&Co that was originally announced in August 2011. In addition, Merck&Co gains expanded access to Zymeworks’ proprietary Azymetric™ platform for the development of novel bispecific antibody therapeutic candidates.