Magenta Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company, and Heidelberg Pharma AG, a biotechnology company developing new options to address major challenges in cancer therapy, announced the signing of an exclusive multi-target research agreement. The collaboration will combine Magenta’s stem cell platform with proprietary antibodies across up to four exclusive targets with Heidelberg Pharma’s proprietary ATAC (Antibody Targeted Amanitin Conjugates) platform.

“There is a significant need for targeted conditioning regimens for bone marrow transplant, and this is a key area of focus for Magenta. Our partnership with Heidelberg Pharma is an important step in our development of proprietary targeted antibody drug conjugates for conditioning,” said Michael Cooke, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, Magenta Therapeutics. “Amanitin is one of the promising toxins we are exploring in our targeted conditioning programmes, and our partnership with Heidelberg Pharma will allow us to fully evaluate the potential of this payload.”

“We are delighted to collaborate with Magenta Therapeutics, a company at the forefront of transforming the field of bone marrow transplant medicine. We believe this partnership further validates our technology and underscores our leadership in the field of Antibody Targeted Amanitin Conjugates, a new mode of action for attacking cancer,” said Andreas Pahl, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, Heidelberg Pharma. “We look forward to working with Magenta to expand the application of our ATAC technology to new targets to potentially address unmet needs in bone marrow transplantation.”

Under the terms of the multi-target research agreement, Magenta will have access to Heidelberg Pharma’s Amanitin toxin-linker platform technology. Magenta has an option for an exclusive target-specific license for global development and commercialization rights to each of the product candidates resulting from the research collaboration.

Heidelberg Pharma will receive upfront technology access and exclusivity fees and payments for research support. Under the exclusive license agreement, Heidelberg Pharma would be eligible to receive option fees, clinical development, regulatory and sales-related milestone payments up to US$ 334 million, if Magenta exercises all target options and all milestones are met.

Magenta Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to revolutionize bone marrow transplant for patients with autoimmune diseases, blood cancers and genetic diseases.

Heidelberg Pharma is an oncology specialist and the first company to develop the toxin Amanitin into cancer therapies using its proprietary Antibody Targeted Amanitin Conjugate (ATAC) technology and to advance the biological mode of action of the toxin as a novel therapeutic principle.