Acceptys and OncoMab Announce Integration of Human Antibody Drug Development Pipeline and Operations
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Acceptys, Inc. and OncoMab GmbH have announced a broad set of agreements pursuant to which the companies have combined both their human antibody therapeutic pipelines and research and development operations.
Under the agreements, Acceptys has acquired the right to evaluate, acquire and develop all 8 lead antibody therapeutic candidates from the OncoMab pipeline.
Each of these antibodies have exhibited the ability to specifically target and kill cancer cells in extensive laboratory tests, and several have already been proven to be effective in reducing tumor growth in animal models of cancer.
These lead candidates will be jointly developed by Acceptys and OncoMab as therapies for colon, pancreatic and lung cancers, all largely unmet medical needs.
Acceptys has also entered into a research agreement with the University of Wurzburg, Dr. Peter Vollmers and Dr. Hans Konrad Muller-Hermelink, whose work led to the discovery of OncoMab's lead therapeutic candidates.
Under these agreements, Dr. Vollmers and his research team at the University will further characterize Dr. Vollmers' existing library of approximately 650 anti-cancer human antibodies, with an aim of identifying a minimum of 40 additional therapeutic candidates and their associated production cell lines.
"Acceptys will obtain significant benefits from our integration with OncoMab," noted Dan Devine, Chief Executive Officer of Acceptys.
"In the near term, Acceptys obtains 8 preclinical stage human antibody therapeutic candidates for the treatment of cancer."
"In addition, by combining Dr. Vollmers' anti-cancer human antibody library with our own collection of nearly 350 anti-cancer human antibodies, Acceptys now has nearly 1,000 anti-cancer human antibodies and associated production cell lines that will fuel our development efforts well into the next decade."
"Finally, given that both companies utilize similar and proprietary hybridoma based human antibody discovery and development technologies, this relationship brings with it both synergies and efficiencies in the research operations, and a very strong competitive position. The combination is worth a great deal more than the sum of the parts."
Dr. Frank Hensel, Chief Executive Officer of OncoMab stated, "OncoMab's relationship with Acceptys will ensure that sufficient resources will be dedicated to the development of our lead products, and by combining US and European operations, Acceptys and OncoMab will increase the effectiveness and global scope of our development and commercialization efforts."
"Finally, by receiving upfront fees, milestones and royalties from Acceptys, this transaction provides great promise for our shareholders."
