Adimab, LLC, the technology leader in the discovery of fully human antibodies and bispecifics, announced a multi-target discovery and optimisation collaboration with Sanofi.

Under the terms of the Agreement, Adimab will use its proprietary platform to generate bispecific molecules against multiple targets. Sanofi will have the right to develop and commercialise all therapeutic antibodies and bispecifics resulting from the collaboration.

"We are very pleased to have another major pharma partner in Sanofi," says Tillman Gerngross, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Adimab. “Adimab has recently emerged as a major player in the bispecifics discovery space. Our unique protein engineering capabilities allow us to rapidly build libraries around almost any bispecific construct. All leads are ‘filtered’ through Adimab’s genetically modified yeast strain leading to well-expressing and stable therapeutic leads that can readily be assessed for biological function. No other technology can create such a diverse panel of functional and developable leads in such a short time," he adds.

Adimab and Sanofi have entered into a collaboration whereby Adimab will use its proprietary discovery and optimisation platform to identify fully human antibodies or bispecifics against multiple targets. For each project, the agreement grants Sanofi the right to research antibodies and bispecifics generated during the collaboration for potential use as therapeutic products. Under the terms of the Agreement, Adimab will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, research fees and technical milestones. In addition, for each target, Sanofi will have the option to exclusively license antibodies and bispecifics generated during the collaboration. If Sanofi exercises its option for a particular therapeutic lead, Adimab would receive licence fees, clinical milestones and royalties on product sales.

“More and more companies are focussed on bispecific approaches to go after intricate disease biology,” says Guy Van Meter, vice president of Business Development at Adimab. “We have made substantial investments to develop our bispecific platform over the past three years. Our capabilities have grown tremendously, and Adimab has added 18 new bispecific therapeutic programmes in the past 12 months alone.”

Over the past five years, Adimab has established funded discovery collaborations with over 30 companies. Adimab’s funded discovery partners include many leading pharmaceutical companies, such as Merck, Roche, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Gilead, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, Celgene and Sanofi. Adimab has strategically partnered with many other companies as well, including Merrimack, Five Prime, Jounce, Innovent, Alector, Acceleron, Oncothyreon, Surface Oncology, Potenza and Arsanis. In addition, Adimab has transferred its platform for broad use to GSK, Biogen Idec and Novo Nordisk.