Boehringer and OBT in cancer tie-up
pharmafile | May 2, 2013 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Boehringer, Cancer, OBT
Boehringer Ingelheim and UK biotech firm Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) have signed a deal to discover novel antibody targets in cancer.
OBT will identify them using its OGAP discovery platform, a proteomic database which carries information on over 7,500 cancer membrane proteins, after which Boehringer will have exclusive rights to develop and commercialise antibody products for selected programmes.
No financial details were disclosed, with OBT getting an undisclosed upfront payment and the usual raft of milestone payments – assuming various development goals are met – and royalties on sales of any products that might actually come to market.
The company’s raison d’être is coming up with first-in-class medicines for unmet needs in the oncology field, and it has attracted high profile partnerships with various firms.
OBT currently has deals with Seattle Genetics, BMS, Amgen, Alere and BioWa, and development alliances with Italian company Menarini and Sanofi, to whom it has sold a global licence to develop and commercialise one of OBT’s oncology programmes.
The jewel in OBT’s crown – and the reason for so much big-name interest – is OGAP, containing over two million human protein fragments which have been sequenced in 50 different human tissues representing 60 diseases, including 25 forms of cancer.
“Selecting the right target is fundamental for the successful development of a first-in-class antibody product drug,” said OBT chief executive Christian Rohlff.
The Menarini deal, signed late last year, covered five of OBT’s antibody and antibody drug conjugate (ADC) programmes, each of which addresses a different cancer indication via a different novel oncology target.
Menarini is leading manufacture and clinical development in each programme, with OBT supplying the proprietary cancer target, antibody and arming technologies.
Once clinical proof of concept has been realised, OBT will complete clinical development and commercialise the products in North America and Japan, with Menarini responsible for Europe, Asia, Latin America and former Soviet countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Adam Hill
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