Sanofi-aventis and Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co, Ltd (Kyowa Hakko Kirin) signed a collaboration and licensing agreement under which sanofi-aventis receives worldwide rights to Kyowa Hakko Kirin's Anti-Light fully human monoclonal antibody.

This Anti-Light antibody is presently at preclinical stage. It is expected to be the first in class in Ulcerative Colitis and in Crohn's disease. The development could be pursued in further indications such as Rheumatoid Arthritis.

"We are very pleased with this new agreement with Kyowa Hakko Kirin that will strengthen sanofi-aventis pipeline in the field of inflammation," said Marc Cluzel, senior vice president, Research and Development, sanofi-aventis. "There are very important breakthroughs in the field of inflammation like anti-TNFs but unfortunately not all patients benefit from these new therapies. Anti-Light antibody may represent an alternative therapy for those patients."

Under the terms of the agreement sanofi-aventis will have exclusive rights to develop the product worldwide, except in Japan and Asian countries where both parties will co-develop the product. Kyowa Hakko Kirin retains the rights to market the product in Japan and in Asia, while sanofi-aventis has exclusive rights to market and sell the product in the rest of the world. In addition, each party has an option to co-promote the product in the territory of the other party. Kyowa Hakko Kirin will receive an upfront payment as well as milestone payments depending on the successful achievement of certain development steps. The total value of those upfront and milestone payments could reach 315 million US dollars. Kyowa Hakko Kirin will further be entitled to receive royalties on sales when the product is commercialized.

Light molecule was discovered by the La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology (LIAI), a non-profit biomedical research institute and international leader in immunology research, and the antibody against Light was created by both Kyowa Hakko Kirin California, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kirin, and LIAI. Kyowa Hakko Kirin has received the worldwide exclusive license for the molecule and the antibody from LIAI.

The immune system primarily serves to protect the body against infectious agents. Light (Lymphotoxin-like, exhibits Inducible expression, and competes with HSV Glycoprotein D for HVEM, a receptor expressed by T lymphocytes), discovered by LIAI, is a novel TNF super family member that is implicated as a key mediator of inflammation, and enhances the activities of T cells, NK cells, monocytes or dendric cells through several receptors.

Monoclonal antibodies are complex proteins that come from a single parent cell and offer therapists new possibilities for better targeted and more effective treatments with fewer side effects.