CytomX
Therapeutics, the Probody™ therapeutics company, and ImmunoGen,
Inc. (NASDAQ: IMGN), a biotechnology company that develops targeted
anticancer therapies using its validated, industry-leading antibody-drug
conjugate (ADC) technology, today announced a multi-year, strategic
collaboration to develop Probody-drug conjugate (PDC) therapies for the
treatment of cancer. Probodies are a potentially disruptive class of
antibody therapeutics that may further broaden the opportunities for
ADCs by localizing therapeutic activity to the tumor microenvironment.
Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will collaborate to
develop PDCs against a defined number of targets. This collaboration
brings together CytomX’s proprietary antibody masking technology and
tumor-selective protease substrates with ImmunoGen’s highly potent ADC
cell-killing agents and engineered linkers.
Each company retains full development control of PDC compounds resulting
from its target selection and is responsible for preclinical and
clinical testing, manufacturing, and commercialization. Each company is
entitled to potentially receive clinical and post-approval milestone
payments from the other company, as well as royalties on the sales of
any marketed products resulting from this collaboration.
“This strategic collaboration with ImmunoGen is designed to allow each
company to build pipeline value by capitalizing on the best of both
technology platforms,” said Sean McCarthy, D.Phil., chief executive
officer of CytomX. “By combining our Probody technology with ImmunoGen’s
world class linker-payload capabilities we will accelerate towards our
vision of bringing safer, more effective therapies to patients.”
“ImmunoGen is committed to developing better therapies for the treatment
of patients with cancer,” commented John Lambert, PhD, EVP and Chief
Scientific Officer. “We believe using our state-of-the-art ADC
technology with CytomX’s highly promising Probody Platform will enable
us to develop therapies particularly well-suited for certain challenging
cancers.”
CytomX’s Probodies
are masked monoclonal antibodies that are designed to remain inert in
healthy tissue but be activated specifically in the disease
microenvironment. Through precise targeting of the disease
microenvironment, Probodies have the potential to address diseases in
ways that have not been possible to-date, enabling a new level of tissue
targeting, selectivity and activation.
ImmunoGen’s ADC technology is used in Roche’s Kadcyla® and in
multiple other ADC compounds now in clinical and preclinical testing. It
includes highly potent cancer-cell killing agents developed specifically
for targeted delivery to cancer cells using monoclonal antibodies, and
linkers engineered to keep the agent attached to the antibody in the
blood stream and control its release and activation inside a cancer cell.
About CytomX
CytomX Therapeutics, the Probody™ therapeutics company, is dedicated to
transforming lives with safer, more effective therapies. CytomX’s
Probody Platform represents a disruptive approach to discovering and
developing the next generation of antibody therapeutics and is enabling
the development of a diversified pipeline in major unmet medical needs
including cancer and inflammation. CytomX is led by a seasoned and
proven management team and is financed by leading life science investors
including Third Rock Ventures, Canaan Partners and the Roche Venture
Fund. For more information, please visit www.cytomx.com.
About ImmunoGen, Inc.
ImmunoGen, Inc. develops targeted anticancer therapeutics. The Company’s
ADC technology uses a tumor-targeting engineered antibody to deliver one
of ImmunoGen's highly potent cancer-cell killing agents specifically to
tumor cells; the Company has also developed antibodies with anticancer
activity of their own. The most advanced compound with ImmunoGen’s ADC
technology is Roche’s Kadcyla®, which is marketed in the US
by Genentech and is also gaining approvals internationally. Additional
compounds are in clinical testing by ImmunoGen and through the Company’s
partnerships with Amgen, Bayer HealthCare, Biotest and Sanofi. More
information about ImmunoGen can be found at www.immunogen.com.
Kadcyla® is a registered trademark of Genentech, Inc., a
member of the Roche Group.
This press release includes forward-looking statements. For these
statements, ImmunoGen claims the protection of the safe harbor for
forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. It should be noted that there are risks and
uncertainties related to the development of novel anticancer products,
including PDCs. A review of these risks can be found in ImmunoGen's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013 and
other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Copyright Business Wire 2014