OPi and Vaccinex Announce License of Fully Human Anti-IL6 Antibody

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OPi SA and Vaccinex, Inc. have announced that they have entered into a licensing agreement whereby OPi was granted exclusive worldwide rights to OPR-003, a fully human anti-interleukin-6 (IL-6) antibody and to several alternate antibodies.
Vaccinex selected the antibody using its ActivMab® discovery technology. According to the agreement, Vaccinex will be eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties and will have the opportunity to participate as a co-development partner in certain markets.
In 2004, OPi and Vaccinex initiated a research collaboration to discover fully human antibodies derived from elsilimomab, a murine anti-IL6 antibody proprietary to OPi with positive proof-of-concept clinical data in malignant haematological diseases.
The collaboration identified a panel of high affinity fully-human anti-IL6 antibodies with functionality comparable to elsilimomab.
A US patent application was filed on these compounds and OPi has initiated pre-clinical development.
"We have been very impressed with Vaccinex's technological capabilities and are pleased to add this new and promising compound to our R&D portfolio. The joint research collaboration was very fruitful," stated Dr. Gilles Alberici, President and founder of OPi.
"Given its clinical potential and its competitive advantages, advancing these fully human antibodies to the clinic will be one of our key objectives."
Dr. Maurice Zauderer, Vaccinex's President and CEO commented, "We are pleased that our collaboration with OPi has successfully resulted in antibodies with significant therapeutic promise."
"The OPR-003 project demonstrates the capabilities of Vaccinex's ActivMab® technology in discovering novel, fully human antibodies to a broad range of targets."
Inhibiting IL6 has recently become a promising therapeutic path for the treatment of inflammatory disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and of several onco-haematological diseases, such as multiple myeloma and some aggressive B-cell lymphomas.
Recent clinical data have highlighted the clinical and commercial potential of anti-IL6 and anti-IL6R antibodies as a new therapeutic class.