Eos Biotechnology and ICOS Sign Manufacturing and Licensing Agreements
ICOS to Manufacture Eos' Lead Antibody Candidate Targeting Angiogenesis
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Eos Biotechnology, Inc. today announced the signing of a manufacturing and a licensing agreement with ICOS Corporation. Under the terms of the manufacturing agreement ICOS will produce Eos' lead monoclonal antibody candidate to clinical specifications for use in phase I/II clinical trials for the treatment of cancer. The separate licensing agreement provides Eos with non-exclusive rights to ICOS' CHEF1 enhanced mammalian protein expression technology.
``The manufacturing agreement provides Eos with a timely and reliable means to obtain entry into the clinic with sufficient amounts of our therapeutic antibody for Phase I/II studies without a major investment in manufacturing facilities,'' said Barbara K. Finck, M.D., vice president clinical development of Eos. ``This event marks Eos' entry into the clinical development phase and is an important milestone, as we leverage our genome-based target discovery and validation expertise for the development of a pipeline of therapeutic candidates.''
Under the manufacturing agreement ICOS will conduct development and manufacturing scale-up to ultimately produce clinical quantities of Eos' lead antibody candidate to cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) standards. Eos intends to administer the antibody to patients in phase I/II clinical trials. The antibody targets a member of the integrin family of cell adhesion receptors involved in cell-extracellular matrix and cell-cell interactions. Functionally, this antibody is an inhibitor of angiogenesis, or new blood vessel formation, and therefore Eos expects it may have application towards the treatment of a wide range of solid tumors. Eos retains all rights to the development and commercialization of the antibody.
The licensing agreement provides Eos with non-exclusive access to ICOS' proprietary CHEF1 vector technology for mammalian cell expression of proteins for research purposes and includes the option to take non-exclusive commercial licenses for clinical development and sales of other therapeutic proteins, including antibodies. The CHEF1 technology enhances the yields and production efficiencies of Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells, which are currently considered a production means of choice for antibodies.
About Eos Biotechnology
Eos Biotechnology, Inc., a privately funded biotechnology company in South San Francisco, California, develops, applies and integrates a variety of high throughput genomics, bioinformatics and biological processes for the creation of novel therapeutic and diagnostic products. Eos technologies are being applied to rapidly and cost-effectively build a pipeline of novel and medically important therapeutics and diagnostics in the areas of oncology, angiogenesis and inflammation, with initial product development efforts focused in the area of therapeutic antibodies.
SOURCE: Eos Biotechnology, Inc. |
