Date: 2016-06-28
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound: lead-212 conjugated anti-CD37 antibody
Company: Nordic Nanovector (Norway) AREVA Med (France)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: R&D collaboration
Action mechanism: monoclonal antibody/radiopharmaceutical/antibody drug conjugate (ADC).
Disease: leukemias
Details: * On June 28, 2016, Nordic Nanovector and AREVA Med, the AREVA medical subsidiary developing lead-212 (212Pb) based cancer therapies, announced that they have entered into a collaboration agreement to investigate the potential of a 212Pb-conjugated anti-CD37 antibody for the treatment of leukaemias. Under the terms of the agreement, Nordic Nanovector will provide its chimeric anti-CD37 antibody (NNV003) and its expertise in antibody radionuclide conjugate (ARC) development while AREVA Med will provide expertise in the production of 212Pb, in the development of Targeted Alpha Therapies using this radionuclide and in site-specific bioconjugation methods through its Macrocyclics subsidiary. The radionuclide 212Pb has important characteristics that make it an attractive payload for the treatment of leukaemias where there is no substantial tumour mass and tumour cells are in close proximity to healthy tissues. These properties are based on the decay chain of 212Pb with the emission of very short range alpha particles, thereby offering the potential to create innovative therapies with highly localized targeting and tumour cell killing with improved tolerability. Preclinical studies to determine the initial safety and efficacy profile of the novel anti-CD37 212Pb-ARC will be conducted at AREVA Med’s facility in Plano, Texas, USA. Nordic Nanovector has the option to license any resulting ARCs for further development and AREVA Med has the option to license the use of CD37-targeting antibodies for its own purposes. Both companies will contribute to the collaboration, which will also benefit from grant funding awarded in February 2016 to Nordic Nanovector from the Research Council of Norway’s user-driven research-based innovation program (in Norwegian; Brukerstyrt innovasjonsarena, BIA).
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