Moores UCSD Cancer Center Announces Cancer Therapeutics Development Agreement
Monday December 4, 4:38 pm ET
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) today announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Medarex, Inc. relating to certain targets for antibody-based cancer therapeutics. A separate but related evaluation license agreement has been entered into between UCSD's Office of Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Services and Medarex for the associated intellectual property. Medarex is a biopharmaceutical company based in Princeton, N.J., with research facilities in Milpitas and Sunnyvale, CA.
Under the terms of the agreements, UCSD will provide specific cancer targets discovered in the Cancer Center's research laboratories, and Medarex has the option to develop and commercialize antibody therapeutics to those cancer targets. UCSD will retain diagnostic rights.
The agreements reflect Cancer Center director Dennis A. Carson's strategic plan for the Center which is to create strong relationships with industry and to accelerate the availability of novel treatments for cancer patients.
"This is an approach that we think will save time and money in the cancer drug development process," said Carson, who has co-founded four biotechnology companies, published over 450 scientific papers, and is an inventor on more than 60 U.S. and international patents. "Simply put, we in academia do certain things very well, and industry does certain things very well. We're pooling our expertise to get the work done. We need to bring new options to cancer patients as quickly as possible."
He explained that Medarex has proprietary technology for generating fully human monoclonal antibodies while scientists at the Cancer Center are experts at discovering targets for cancer therapeutics and diagnostics.
Antibody-based therapeutics are designed to target specific molecules and are among cancer therapies available today, including for example, Erbitux®, Avastin®, Herceptin® and Rituxan®.
"We are thrilled with this new relationship and the potential it represents for better cancer care in the future," said Ida Deichaite, director of industry relations at Moores UCSD Cancer Center. "From the business perspective, both sides benefit because each is able to do what it does best, in an orchestrated way, which we believe will add up to exciting new options for patients."
Carson and Deichaite hope to replicate this collaborative approach with other companies in the cancer diagnostics or therapeutics sectors. The Center is now in discussions with a potential diagnostics partner.
Founded in 1979, the Moores UCSD Cancer Center is the only center in the San Diego region and one of just 39 centers in the United States to hold a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. As such, it ranks among the top centers in the nation conducting basic, translational and clinical cancer research, providing advanced patient care and serving the community through outreach and education programs. |
