Seattle Genetics, Inc. and Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) announced that they have formed a strategic collaboration to jointly discover novel antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for cancer. Under the collaboration, OBT will generate panels of monoclonal antibodies against novel tumor-specific antigens identified using its proprietary Oxford Genome Anatomy Project (OGAP) database. The antibodies generated by OBT will then be screened for activity using Seattle Genetics' ADC technology. The resulting ADCs may be selected by each company for further development and commercialization.

“This collaboration is directly aligned with our goal of identifying novel ADC targets to expand our early-stage product pipeline,” said Jonathan Drachman, MD, senior vice president, Research and Translational Medicine at Seattle Genetics. “Through the agreement, we contribute our know-how and proprietary ADC technology and gain access to novel cancer targets obtained from OBT's expertise in target discovery. We believe that this type of multi-product collaboration maximizes the chances for success and capitalizes on each company's strengths.”

“We are delighted to be collaborating with Seattle Genetics in this alliance which we believe will add multiple ADC candidates to OBT's rapidly developing pre-clinical product pipeline. ADCs are beginning to transform the outlook for many cancer patients and OBT believes that with its antibody pipeline, it can make an important contribution to the development of this exciting new class of therapeutics. We are looking forward to working with Seattle Genetics to provide improved therapies for patients suffering from cancer,” said Christian Rohlff, CEO, OBT.

Under the terms of the multi-year, multi-product agreement, OBT and Seattle Genetics will each have an equal number of alternating options to select programs from among the preclinical ADCs identified for exclusive, worldwide development and commercialization. Each company will receive undisclosed progress-dependent milestone payments and royalties on net sales of any resulting ADCs developed by the other party.

The Oxford Genome Anatomy Project (OGAP) database represents one of the world's largest proprietary collections of disease-associated proteins. OGAP oncology contains proteomic data on over 7,500 cancer membrane proteins combined with genomic and clinical information derived from human blood and cancer tissue studies. OGAP contains proprietary target information on three-quarters of the entire human proteome. Almost two million human protein fragments have been sequenced in OGAP in 50 different human tissues representing 60 diseases, including 25 forms of cancer. OGAP integrates data covering 17,000 different genes and over eight million genetic variants (SNPs and haplotypes).

ADCs are monoclonal antibodies that selectively deliver potent anti-cancer agents to tumour cells. With over a decade of experience and knowledge in ADC innovation, Seattle Genetics has developed proprietary technology employing synthetic, highly potent cell-killing agents called auristatins (such as MMAE and MMAF) and stable linker systems that attach the auristatin to the antibody. Seattle Genetics' novel linker systems are designed to be stable in the bloodstream and release the potent cell-killing agent once inside targeted cancer cells. This approach is intended to spare non-targeted cells and thus reduce many of the toxic effects of traditional chemotherapy while enhancing the anti-tumour activity.

Seattle Genetics is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of monoclonal antibody-based therapies for the treatment of cancer.