Date: 2014-03-04
Type of information: Licensing agreement
Compound: GlymaxX® Antibody Glyco-Engineering technology
Company: ProBioGen (Germany) Merus (The Netherlands)
Therapeutic area: Technology - Services
Type agreement: licensing
Action mechanism: The GlymaxX® technology, developed by ProBioGen, prevents the addition of the sugar “fucose” to the N-linked antibody carbohydrate part by antibody producing cells. The absence of fucose is known to greatly enhance ADCC. The GlymaxX® technology is based on the introduction of a gene for an enzyme which deflects the producer cells’ pathway of fucose biosynthesis. GlymaxX® is universally applicable to different CHO hosts and other eukaryotic cell species, and it is simple and potent. GlymaxX® can be rapidly applied in a few weeks to any existing antibody producer cell line, or can be introduced into entire animal cell expression platforms by modifying the host cell line.
Disease:
Details: * On March 4, 2014, ProBioGen AG and Merus have announced that the companies have signed a non-exclusive commercial option and license agreement on ProBioGen’s GlymaxX® fucose-engineering technology. Under the terms of the agreement, ProBioGen is granting Merus the non-exclusive right to use the GlymaxX® technology to enhance the ADCC (Antibody-Dependent Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity) activity of one of its lead products, a bispecific anti-cancer antibody. The license is covering clinical development and production.The GlymaxX® technology for the production of afucosylated antibodies and proteins is based on the stable integration of a heterologous enzyme into any antibody producer cell line, leading to the interference with the cells’ intracellular fucose biosynthesis pathway. As a unique feature differentiating it from other approaches, the GlymaxX® technology can be applied to both novel and already existing antibody producer cell lines and entire antibody expression and discovery platforms without negatively affecting their productivity.
Financial terms: Financial details have not been disclosed.
Latest news:
