Xencor and UCLA TDG partner to develop therapeutic antibodies
pharmafile | February 25, 2021 | News story | | Xencor, ucla
Xencor and UCLA Technology Development Group (UCLA TDG) have announced an agreement to develop novel therapeutic antibodies, pairing novel targets proposed by scientists at UCLA and utilising Xencor’s modular suite of XmAb technology platforms.
The biopharmaceutical company and UCLA have established a streamlined framework to select promising biology, perform collaborative research, and license intellectual property.
Xencor’s XmAb platforms are precisely engineered antibody Fc domains. These enable the creation of stable new protein structures, such as bispecific antibodies and engineered cytokines, or amplification of natural immune functions, such as extending circulating half-life or enhancing immune cell cytotoxicity.
The company and its pharmaceutical partners are now advancing 20 clinical-stage, XmAb-engineered drug candidates for the treatment of patients with life-threatening and debilitating diseases. Two of these antibodies have been approved by the FDA; one for the treatment of patients with rare blood disorders, and the other for an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The UCLA TDG will work with faculty to propose potential antibody drug candidates. For candidates that are selected, the collaborators will use a framework with predefined terms to enter sponsored research agreements and potential licence agreements.
John Desjarlais, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Xencor, said: “The creation of exciting new therapeutic modalities requires advancing innovative biological concepts together with state-of-the-art molecular platforms to build best-in-class biologics.
“The inherent modularity and stability provided by our XmAb platforms, and our ability to precisely tune a molecule’s target-binding capability, opens the door to evaluate the clinical potential of biology that was previously considered intractable. We look forward to collaborating with UCLA’s investigators to translate their biological insights into potential medicines.”
Mark A Wisniewski, Senior Director of Biopharmaceuticals at UCLA TDG, also commented: “With this collaboration, we aim to accelerate the development of potential new biologic medicines, leveraging Xencor’s protein engineering technologies and expertise and the ongoing scientific discoveries and insights into disease biology made at UCLA, with the ultimate goal to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.”
Darcy Jimenez
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