Dyax Corp. and AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that Dyax has granted AVEO a non-exclusive license to Dyax's proprietary antibody phage display libraries for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies.

Dyax's human antibody phage libraries combine gene fragments from human donors with strategically designed synthetic DNA, and are used to identify high-affinity human antibodies that bind to numerous therapeutic targets, including cell surface proteins such as tumour cell markers, viral antigens, enzymes, and glycoproteins.

"Dyax's phage display technology is a powerful and proven platform for rapidly generating human antibodies, a therapeutic approach with realized potential," remarked Tuan Ha-Ngoc, president and chief Executive officer of AVEO. "Access to Dyax's state-of-the-art antibody phage display libraries will further strengthen AVEO's novel antibody drug discovery and translational research capabilities. This technology will be instrumental as AVEO continues to develop its maturing pipeline of more than 10 programs dedicated to the delivery of novel, high-quality oncology antibody drug candidates."

The terms of this strategic agreement include upfront and annual license fees, clinical and regulatory milestone payments as well as other considerations. Dyax is also entitled to royalties on net sales of any products identified by AVEO using Dyax's technology that may be developed and commercialized by AVEO and/or its sublicenses. The agreement also provides AVEO with sublicenses to relevant third-party antibody phage display patents related to Dyax's technology.

"We are pleased to have entered into this agreement with AVEO, a pioneering company in the area of cancer therapeutics," commented Henry E. Blair, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dyax. "The innovative structure of this agreement is another example of our strategy to expand our licensed antibody pipeline through a wide variety of strategic partnerships and collaborations."

Dyax is focused on advancing novel biotherapeutics for unmet medical needs, with an emphasis in oncology and inflammation. Dyax utilizes its proprietary drug discovery technology, phage display, to identify antibody, small protein and peptide compounds.