Epimmune Inc has granted Amgen Inc a non-exclusive, worldwide license to its Padre technology for research purposes. Padre is Epimmune's proprietary family of molecules that enhances an immune response against an antigen and is useful as a discovery research tool. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Epimmune Inc is focused on the development of pharmaceutical products using multiple epitopes to specifically activate the body's immune system. Epitopes, critical signaling molecules, stimulate the T cell arm of the immune system to respond to specific regions of cancer cells or infectious agents. By combining multiple, selected epitopes into a single drug candidate, the immune response can be both targeted and optimized for strength. Epimmune's therapeutic drug candidates have been designed to treat disease by stimulating the body's immune system to respond aggressively to infections such as HIV, hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B virus, and tumors such as breast, colon, lung and prostate. The Company's preventative drug candidates have been designed to protect against disease by teaching the body's immune system to react quickly when exposed to infectious agents.