Date: 2017-01-04
Type of information: Clinical research agreement
Compound: TandAb® technology in combination with natural killer cell (NK) product
Company: Affimed (Germany) The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA - TX)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: development clinical research commercialisation
Action mechanism: protein/fusion protein/bispecific antibody. Tandabs® are used to selectively direct NK cells or T cells to eliminate cancer cells. They combine binding sites for target tumor cell molecule and component of the T-cell receptor/NK cell receptor. These tetravalent, bifunctional proteins are able to recognize a specific biologic target and, utilizing their second functionality, to bind with high affinity to T cells/NK cells and thereby direct the T cells/NK-cells to eliminate the target cell.
Disease:
Details: * On January 4, 2017, Affimed and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announced an exclusive strategic clinical development and commercialization collaboration to evaluate Affimed's TandAb technology in combination with MD Anderson's natural killer cell (NK) product. This collaboration will leverage MD Anderson's expertise in NK-cells and translational medicine, and Affimed's capabilities to develop tumor-targeting bispecific TandAb immune cell engagers. Collaborative studies will research, develop, and eventually commercialize novel oncology therapeutics resulting from this combination of products. MD Anderson will be responsible for conducting preclinical research activities aimed at investigating its NK-cells derived from umbilical cord blood in combination with Affimed's lead NK-cell engager, the CD30- and CD16A-targeting TandAb AFM13. These are intended to be followed by a Phase 1 clinical trial. The partners intend to investigate MD Anderson's natural killer cell (NK) product with the NK-cell engager AFM13 in Hodgkin lymphoma. AFM13 is a bispecific NK-cell TandAb simultaneously targeting CD16A on NK-cells and CD30 on tumor cells. AFM13 is designed to treat CD30-positive malignancies including Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and T-cell lymphoma (TCL) and is currently in Phase 2 development in HL patients. Based on its safety profile, AFM13 is being developed both as monotherapy and in combination with other therapeutics such as Merck's checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda®.
Financial terms: Affimed will fund research and development expenses for this collaboration and the agreement includes a provision for the potential expansion of the partnership. Affimed holds an option to exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize any product developed under the collaboration.
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