18 May 2009, Oxford, UK Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) today announced a
strategic alliance with GlaxoSmithKline to discover, develop and commercialise
novel, therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of primary, metastatic and recurring
forms of cancer.
Under the alliance, GSK will develop novel antibody therapies against selected OBT
targets. In parallel OBT will develop one of its own monoclonal antibodies through to
clinical proof of concept, at which point GSK will have an exclusive option to in-
license this monoclonal antibody and will thereafter assume responsibility for further
clinical development and commercialisation on a worldwide basis.
OBT will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and will be eligible for up to a total
of $370m (£244m) upon the achievement of specified discovery, development,
regulatory and commercialisation milestones.
In addition to the upfront and milestone payments, OBT will receive double-digit
royalties on sales of any product that it develops to clinical proof of concept and
single-digit royalties on worldwide sales of marketed GSK antibody products aimed at
OBT targets. Furthermore, OBT may opt to carry forward the OBT or GSK
collaboration programs that GSK chooses not to develop further.
The alliance integrates OBT’s expertise in the discovery of novel oncology targets
and therapeutic antibody discovery with GSK’s in-house therapeutic antibody
discovery and development capabilities. OBT’s antibody discovery platform builds on
its OGAP® proteomic database, which represents one of the world’s largest
proprietary human protein collections including data on 5,000 cancer membrane
proteins combined with highly disease relevant genomic and clinical information
derived from human blood and cancer tissue studies.
“We are extremely pleased to be collaborating with GSK given their proven
commitment to innovation and their expertise in the development and
commercialisation of novel oncology medicines,” said Christian Rohlff, CEO of OBT.
“This strategic alliance provides important validation of our scientific expertise in the
fields of cancer target discovery and broadens OBT’s antibody pipeline. In addition,
we gain access to significant non-dilutive financing to support the development of our
pipeline of fully human therapeutic antibodies which we believe have the potential to
significantly impact clinically unmet needs in certain important cancer indications.”
About Oxford BioTherapeutics
Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) is focused on the development of targeted medicines
for oncology. OBT’s strategy is to develop innovative antibody-based cancer drugs,
with integrated diagnostics, against novel targets that it has discovered in its unique
OGAP® proteomic database. OBT, through its alliances with the world leaders in
antibody development (Medarex, Biosite, Amgen and GSK), is in a strong position to
convert its novel targets into a successful therapeutic pipeline. OBT’s pipeline will
deliver innovative and cost-effective medicines to fulfil major unmet patient needs in
the field of cancer. OBT, a privately held company, was formed in 2004 and is based
near Oxford, UK.
About OGAP®
The Oxford Genome Anatomy Project (OGAP®) database represents the world’s
largest proprietary collection of disease-associated proteins. It integrates genomic,
proteomic and clinical information derived from blood and tissue studies for a large
number of diseases from 50 different human tissues representing 60 diseases and
contains over one million peptide sequences, mapped to approximately 15,000
genes, combined with over eight million SNPs and haplotypes. OGAP® oncology
contains proteomic data on 5,000 cancer membrane proteins combined with their
genomic and clinical information derived from human blood and cancer tissue
studies.
OGAP® is a registered trade mark of Oxford BioTherapeutics Ltd.
For further information, please see www.OxfordBioTherapeutics.com or
www.oxbt.co.uk |
