Two other deals announced today (Micromet & Enzon) - presumably hoping to dilute the disappointment at the lack of progress on the Humira royalty dispute:
Micromet, Enzon and Cambridge Antibody Technology sign Cross-Licence Agreement
in the Field of Single-Chain Antibodies and Phage Display
Expanded opportunities for the development of novel antibody therapeutic
products
Cambridge, UK, Munich, Germany and Bridgewater, NJ ... Cambridge Antibody
Technology (LSE:CAT; NASDAQ:CATG), Micromet AG (private), and Enzon
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENZN) today announce that they have signed a
non-exclusive cross-licence agreement, under which all three parties obtain
substantial freedom to conduct research under certain of each others'
intellectual property, as well as the right to develop a defined number of
therapeutic and diagnostic antibody-based products. CAT obtains expanded access
to Micromet's and Enzon's joint patent estate in the field of single-chain
antibody technology (SCA) and both Micromet and Enzon gain rights to
intellectual property in antibody phage display controlled by CAT.
This cross-licence agreement builds on existing alliances: that of Micromet and
Enzon, where both parties combined their significant patent estates and
complementary expertise in the field of SCAs; and the licence agreement first
entered into among CAT, Enzon and Creative BioMolecules in 1996. In addition to
the cross-licensing of intellectual property under this agreement, Enzon and CAT
have both agreed to withdraw their pending oppositions to each others' European
patents in the area of diabodies.
Under the terms of the agreement, Micromet and Enzon obtain the right within the
framework of their collaboration to use CAT's intellectual property in phage
display to create and
commercialise novel antibody products against a defined number of targets. In
addition, Enzon and Micromet each receive options to develop and commercialise
antibody products outside of their alliance. CAT receives options to develop and
commercialise diagnostic and therapeutic SCA products and broad rights to
SCA-based technologies for research, including the right to sublicense to
collaboration partners. In addition CAT receives a two-year option to licence
SCA technology for use in antibody microarrays. The cross-licence agreement is
structured to maximally incentivise all three parties to develop and
commercialise antibody-based products.
Christian Itin, PhD, Micromet's Chief Business Officer commented, 'The SCA IP
estate consolidated between Enzon and Micromet in 2002 and the CAT-MRC IP estate
to antibody phage display are robust in their respective spaces. The present
transaction provides each of the companies access to relevant complementary IP,
supporting each company's business case on attractive commercial terms.'
Peter Chambre, CAT's Chief Executive Officer, commented, 'We view this
cross-license agreement with Micromet and Enzon as important to our commitment
to the development and commercialisation of therapeutic antibodies. Not only
does CAT obtain access to a broad commercial opportunity in SCA, but through
this agreement CAT enjoys greater flexibility in respect of its collaboration
partners. All three companies stand to benefit from this consolidation of
intellectual property which underpins the exploitation of antibody-based drugs.'
Uli Grau, Enzon's Chief Scientific Officer, commented, 'With this cross-licence
Enzon is able to strengthen our leading position in the growing field of
antibody therapies, which we intend to leverage to expand our product
portfolio.'
-ENDS-
CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY TECHNOLOGY ANNOUNCES PRODUCT LICENCE AGREEMENT WITH MICROMET AG
Micromet granted licence to commercialise therapeutic antibody product in cancer
Cambridge, UK Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc (LSE: CAT;
NASDAQ: CATG) today announces the grant of a non-exclusive patent licence to
Micromet AG for the development and commercialisation of its proprietary human
therapeutic antibody candidate MT201. The antibody, developed using phage
display technologies controlled by CAT, is specific for the epithelial tumour
target EpCAM and has the potential to address a broad range of cancer
indications. MT201 is the subject of a co-development agreement with Novuspharma
SpA to jointly develop the candidate through a Phase II programme scheduled to
commence shortly.
Under the terms of the agreement with CAT, Micromet receives a worldwide licence
in respect to all CAT's antibody phage display technology patents, both pending
and granted, to develop antibody-based products targeting the EpCAM antigen. In
return, CAT will receive an upfront licence fee from Micromet as well as
milestone and royalty payments on human antibody-based products developed
against the EpCAM target by Micromet and its partners.
Peter Chambre, CAT's Chief Executive Officer, commented; 'We are very encouraged
by the commitment and progress made by Micromet in therapeutic antibody
development and are pleased that the company views a licence to CAT's antibody
phage display patents as fundamental to its investment in this area. CAT's
patent licensing strategy supports the growing enthusiasm for human
antibodies as an extremely important class of drug addressing major areas of
unmet medical need.'
Christian Itin, Chief Business Officer of Micromet, commented; 'CAT's
antibody phage display technology was critical to the generation of
MT201, a fully human IgG targeting EpCAM. The additional unique binding
properties of MT201 came about as a result of the innovative approaches to
display technology applied by Micromet researchers. We are looking forward with
our partner Novuspharma to entering the next phase of the clinical development
of MT201.'