Date: 2015-08-14
Type of information: Milestone
Compound: IMP701 - LAG-3 antibody
Company: Prima BioMed (Australia) Novartis (Switzerland)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: milestone
Action mechanism: monoclonal antibody. IMP701 is a therapeutic antibody originally developed by Immutep to target LAG-3. This antagonist antibody plays a role in controlling the signalling pathways in both effector T cells and regulatory T cells (Treg). The antibody works to both activate effector T cells (by blocking inhibitory signals that would otherwise switch them off) and at the same time inhibit Treg function that normally prevent T cells from responding to antigen stimulation. The antibody therefore removes two brakes that prevent the immune system from responding to and killing cancer cells. In contrast, some other checkpoint antibodies in development target only the effector T cell pathway and don't address the Treg pathway.
Disease:
Details: * On August 14, 2015, Prima BioMed announced it will receive an undisclosed clinical milestone payment from its collaboration and licensing agreement with Novartis relating to its Phase I IMP701 LAG-3 antibody. The antibody is being trialled for the treatment of cancer. Immutep (which Prima Biomed acquired in December 2014) and CoStim Pharmaceuticals (which Novartis acquired in February 2014) entered into a commercial licensing and collaboration agreement in September 2012, under which CoStim obtained a licence to develop and commercialise antagonistic LAG-3 antibodies. Novartis has full responsibility for the continued development of the antibody program and Prima is eligible to receive further potential development-based milestone payments and royalties on sales following commercialisation of the products.
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