Cambridge Antibody Technology and Xoma Ltd. have entered into a cross-licensing arrangement for antibody-related technologies. Under the agreement CAT, and its collaborators, receive rights to use the XOMA antibody expression technology for developing products using CAT's phage-based antibody technology, in return for licence payments to Xoma. Xoma will receive the right to use CAT's phage antibody libraries for its target discovery and research programmes, with an option to develop antibodies into therapeutics. Should any therapeutic antibodies derived from CAT's libraries be identified and developed by XOMA, licence payments will be made by Xoma to CAT.

Peter Chambre, CAT's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Clarifying the intellectual property issues in the antibody field remains an important priority for both CAT and Xoma. As CAT progresses with its transition to a product-based biopharmaceutical company, we are pleased to have reached this cross-licensing arrangement with Xoma."

"We are very pleased to enter into this phage-based antibody related licensing arrangement with CAT, a company with excellent capabilities in the important field of antibody drug discovery," said Jack Castello, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Xoma. "Our licence to CAT, which is the fourth such licence we've entered into with a significant antibody library company this year, further validates the fundamental position our antibody expression technology holds in the phage display arena."