Date: 2015-06-01
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound: antibodies targeting human T regs
Company: BioInvent (Sweden) University of Southampton (UK)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: R&D
Action mechanism: monoclonal antibody/immune checkpoint inhibitor
Disease:
Details: * On June 1, 2015, BioInvent International announced a three-year research collaboration with the University of Southampton (UoS), one of the world’s leading antibody research groups, under the direction of Professor Mark Cragg, BSc, PhD, Professor of Experimental Cancer Research and Director of the Cancer Pathway Integrated Postgraduate Programme. The collaboration, also involving Professor Martin Glennie and Dr Stephen Beers is aimed at developing new immunotherapy treatments for cancer by targeting regulatory T cells (T regs). The program builds on the clinical successes of antibodies to so called T cell checkpoint inhibitors. The collaboration aims to develop novel antibodies and targets that are more specific for the cancer-associated T regs.
This collaboration is separate from two existing research programs in place between the University of Southampton and BioInvent.
Terms of the collaboration are not disclosed, noting that BioInvent will have the option to license any promising results for further development and commercialization. Under the agreement, both parties will contribute to intellectual property generation.
BioInvent has the capacity, through the F.I.R.S.T.™ platform, to generate a large number of T cell depleting antibodies. UoS has unique capabilities to test and evaluate potential lead candidates in several advanced in vitro and in vivo models. The collaboration between BioInvent and UoS around n-CoDeR® antibodies targeting human T regs for cancer therapy utilizes the strengths from both groups.
Professor Cragg commented, “We look forward to building on the strength of our collaborative relationship with BioInvent, which should allow us to remain at the cutting edge of antibody immunotherapy for the benefit of cancer patients worldwide. Both clinical and preclinical data suggests that depletion of T regs can result in efficient anti-tumor T cell responses and tumor eradication. However, current T cell targeting therapeutic antibodies and checkpoint inhibitors were developed based on their abilities to block inhibitory signals. Novel, as yet unidentified targets with broad expression on regulatory T cells in different cancers, such as melanoma, lung cancer etc. and antibody formats with superior T reg depleting activity may have greater activity. We look forward to working with BioInvent’s extensive antibody library and its novel targeting platform to establish several lead candidates for clinical development in this very important area of cancer research.”
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