Date: 2015-04-14
Type of information: Publication of results in a medical journal
phase: preclinical
Announcement: publication of results in Cancer Cell
Company: BioInvent (Sweden)
Product: BI-1206
Action mechanism: monoclonal antibody. BI-1206 is a fully-human anti-CD32b antagonistic antibody that in addition to directly killing tumour cells is thought to work by maintaining CD20 antibodies on the cell membrane of cancer cells, preventing them from becoming resistant to the current state-of-the-art treatment, rituximab. The antibody has shown promise both in combination with CD20 antibodies and as a single agent in chronic lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL) and other types of NHL, in an extensive package of preclinical studies carried out by Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research-funded scientists at the University of Southampton
Disease:
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
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Trial details:
Latest news: * On April 14, 2015, BioInvent International, a biotech company developing novel antibody therapeutics for treatment of cancer, and the University of Southampton announced that the April 13, 2015 online issue of the cancer research journal Cancer Cell features groundbreaking findings that resistance to many types of antibody drugs can be overcome by preventing cancer cells from ‘hiding’ from immune cells. The research was carried out by BioInvent and by scientists at the University of Southampton. The research, which was partly funded by Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and Cancer Research UK, have shown that some cancer cells are able to draw monoclonal antibodies inside themselves, making them invisible to immune cells. However, the researchers showed that a new antibody developed by BioInvent, called BI-1206, can effectively prevent this drug destruction process and enhance cancer killing by binding to a molecule called FcgRIIB. BI-1206 showed success in mice in overcoming resistance to monoclonal antibodies like rituximab, currently used to treat different types of lymphoma and leukaemia. BI-1206 is currently in preclinical development and scheduled to enter Phase I/II clinical testing later this year. The collaboration was initiated at a Keystone conference in 2009, and has since been led by Dr Björn Frendéus and Dr Ingrid Teige at BioInvent and Professor Mark Cragg and Dr Ali Roghanian at the University of Southampton.
