Novo Nordisk has been granted a non-exclusive licence to Kymab's proprietary Kymouse human antibody discovery platform to discover, develop and commercialise therapeutic monoclonal antibody drugs for human diseases.

The licence provides Novo Nordisk with access to the Kymouse HK and Kymouse HL transgenic human antibody mouse strains, which can generate highly selective, potent, human antibody drug candidates. The Kymouse HL strain produces antibodies with human heavy and lambda light chains whereas Kymouse HK generates antibodies with human heavy and  kappa light chains. By using these strains in combination,  a diverse pool of human antibodies can be created with both classes of light chains fully represented.

Dr Tom Shepherd, chief business officer of Kymab, said, “Novo Nordisk’s expertise and track record in developing biological therapeutics coupled with its existing therapeutic antibody discovery infrastructure makes it an ideal partner for Kymab. Our strategy is to partner the Kymouse platform broadly to maximise its potential in the discovery and development of new medicines.”

Hanne Risager Romedahl, vice president, Head of ImmunoTechnology, Novo Nordisk, said, “Antibody therapeutics have great potential to advance patient care in diseases with significant unmet medical need. Kymab’s highly innovative and technically advanced Kymouse platform  is an excellent fit with our existing therapeutic antibody discovery capability.”

The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but include  platform licence fees, development milestone payments for drug candidates and royalties on sales of antibodies discovered using the Kymouse strains.

Kymab is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of fully human monoclonal antibody drugs using its proprietary Kymouse transgenic antibody platform.

Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with leadership in diabetes care. The company also has leading positions within haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy.