Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (HGSI) and Xencor, Inc. announced a collaboration agreement under which Xencor will apply its proprietary XmAb humanization and optimization technologies to enhance the pharmacologic properties of monoclonal antibodies developed by HGS that specifically target antigens discovered by HGS.
"The priority focus of HGS continues to be the rapid commercialization of our late-stage compounds - Albuferon for hepatitis C, LymphoStat-B for lupus, and ABthrax for inhalation anthrax. We also have an exciting mid-stage pipeline led by our oncology programme," said H. Thomas Watkins, president and chief executive officer, HGS. "Today's announcement demonstrates our continuing commitment to targeted innovation based on HGS discoveries and our extensive intellectual property estate. We look forward to working with Xencor to maximize the therapeutic potential of several important new HGS product candidates."
Under the terms of the agreement, Xencor will receive an upfront payment and is eligible to receive additional payments including development and commercial milestones, and royalties on any products commercialized under the agreement. HGS will be responsible for all preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This collaboration further validates the breadth of our XmAb technology platform," commented Bassil Dahiyat, Ph.D., president and CEO of Xencor. "Our proprietary tools optimize the complete antibody structure, including the Fc region to improve potency and half-life and variable region humanization and affinity optimization. We look forward to working with Human Genome Sciences to create novel, best-in-class biotherapeutics that are more effective in treating unmet medical needs while we continue to advance our internal pipeline of XmAb antibody candidates."
Xencor's XmAb engineered Fc domains are designed to enhance the therapeutic properties of monoclonal antibodies and can be inserted into antibody candidates against any target antigen to improve one or more important effector functions, including enhanced antibody-mediated tumour cell killing, extended half-life and selective regulation of immune cells. The XmAb Fv technology generates high-quality human sequence diversity in antibody variable domains in order to improve affinity, stability and production yield.
Xencor, Inc. engineers superior biotherapeutics using its proprietary Protein Design Automation technology platform and is a leader in the field of antibody Fc engineering to significantly improve antibody potency and half-life.
The mission of HGS is to apply great science and great medicine to bring innovative drugs to patients with unmet medical needs. The HGS clinical development pipeline includes novel drugs to treat hepatitis C, lupus, anthrax disease, cancer and other immune-mediated diseases.