Date: 2016-06-28
Type of information: Licensing agreement
Compound: bispecific antibodies
Company: Novartis (Switzerland) Xencor (USA - CA)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: licensing - collaboration
Action mechanism: bispecific antibody. Bispecific antibodies are engineered to recognize and target two different antigens, which makes them potentially more effective in targeting complex diseases. A T-cell engaging bispecific antibody is able to bind an antigen on a tumor cell with one arm and engage T-cells capable of their destruction with the other.
Disease: acute myeloid leukemia, B-cell malignancies
Details: • On June 28, 2016, Novartis announced that it has entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with Xencor for the development of bispecific antibodies for treating cancer. Novartis receives the right to develop four additional bispecific antibodies and to use other Xencor proprietary antibody engineering technology for up to ten additional biotherapeutic programs across the Novartis R&D portfolio. In addition, The companies will collaborate to co-develop Xencor's two bispecific T-cell engaging antibodies targeting CD3xCD123 and CD3xCD20 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia and B-cell malignancies. The addition of Xencor's T-cell engaging bispecific antibody programs expands Novartis' immuno-oncology portfolio that includes novel checkpoint inhibitors, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CART) technology, myeloid cell targeting agents, the T-cell stimulating factor IL-15, STING agonists that enhance immune recognition of cancers, and adenosine receptor antagonists and TGF-beta blocking antibodies that overcome immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment. Currently seven of these programs are in the clinic and five more are expected to enter the clinic individually and as combinations by the end of 2016.
Financial terms: Under the terms of the agreement, Xencor is receiving a $150 million upfront payment from Novartis and the two companies will equally share the cost to jointly develop two Xencor antibodies targeting the CD3 domain. Xencor retains full US commercial rights to these programs, and Novartis has ex-US commercial rights. In addition to these antibodies, Novartis receives worldwide rights to develop and commercialize four additional bispecific programs, with Xencor eligible to "opt in" to one of these programs in the U.S..
Latest news:
