Boehringer to make cancer antibody for Apexigen
pharmafile | December 11, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing | APX005, Apexigen, Boehringer
Boehringer Ingelheim has won a contract from US biotech company Apexigen to manufacture APX005, an antibody-based drug candidate for various cancers.
APX005 is a humanised antibody targeting the CD40 receptor in the early stages of development that has demonstrated ‘potent anti-tumour activity’ in pre-clinical studies, according to the two companies.
Under the terms of the deal, Boehringer will develop a cell line to produce APX005 using its BI-HEX expression system, which is used for the production of biopharmaceuticals from mammalian cell cultures (Chinese hamster ovary or CHO cells).
The contract manufacturing giant said it will also carry out process and method development, scale-up and clinical Phase I supply – including fill and finish services – for Apexigen.
California, US-based Apexigen was spun out of contract research organisation Epitomics in 2010 and concentrates on developing humanised monoclonal antibodies derived from rabbits.
While most humanised MAbs are sourced from mouse antibodies, Apexigen believes that rabbit antibodies have greater affinity and selectivity for epitopes than either mouse or human antibodies, and as a result can be developed for hitherto inaccessible drug targets such as peptides and small molecules.
APX005 is designed to stimulate CD40 receptors, a member of the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily. This mechanism that is also being exploited by VLST Corp and Pfizer with CP-870,893a drug which is due to start Phase II testing in an undisclosed cancer setting in the coming months.
CP-870,983 has been tested in early-stage studies involving patients with melanoma, pancreatic cancer and multiple solid tumours.
Phil Taylor
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