Boehringer and Eureka reach cancer antibodies deal
pharmafile | May 22, 2015 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Boehringer, eureka
Boehringer Ingelheim and Eureka Therapeutics have entered into a research agreement for the discovery of novel therapeutic antibodies in oncology.
No financial details are being revealed at this stage but for its part of the deal, San Francisco, US-based Eureka will be applying its proprietary human sequence antibody libraries and tech towards identifying antibodies that recognise intracellular proteins – which represent around 90% of cancer-specific targets.
Once the groundwork has been done by the biotech, Boehringer will then position itself to further develop and pluck out any good therapy candidates for cancer patients – for whom treatment options are inadequate or non-existent.
“We are excited to partner with Boehringer Ingelheim, a leader in oncology research and development to develop next generation cancer immunotherapies targeting intracellular oncogenes”, says Dr Cheng Liu, president and chief executive of Eureka.
“Intracellular oncogenes represent 90% of cancer-specific antigens, many of which were considered ‘undruggable targets’ until recently. This collaboration builds upon Eureka’s success in discovery and development of fully human antibodies against intracellular oncogenes.”
Boehringer will of course have the option to conduct further development and commercialisation of the antibodies, and under the terms of the agreement Eureka will receive an undisclosed upfront ‘technology access fee’ and research funding for each programme – and may receive other success fees and downstream payments.
Dr Michel Pairet who is the senior corporate VP of research and non-clinical development at Boehringer, says the collaboration lines up with its long-term commitment to oncology and interest in exploring new target spaces with antibodies that spot intracellular proteins.
“It will open up entirely new opportunities for the development of tumour cell- as well as immune cell-targeted therapies. We are looking forward to working closely with Eureka´s scientists to develop novel, effective therapies targeting cancers that have proved particularly difficult to treat in the past.”
Liu adds: “We look forward to working with Boehringer Ingelheim to advance the immuno-oncology frontier and address some of the most challenging unmet medical needs”.
Brett Wells
Related Content
Lilly and Boehringer’s Jardiance reduces hospitalisation and CV death risk from heart failure at Phase 3
Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly have announced strong Phase 3 news on their sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 …
Boehringer withdraws its £700m investment in Hikma Pharmaceuticals
Boehringer has revealed that it intends to withdraw its investment from Hikma Pharmaceuticals, with the …
Boehringer’s TKI inhibitor Ofev gets FDA approval for chronic fibrosing interstitial lung diseases with a progressive phenotype
The FDA has green-lit Boehringer Ingelheim’s multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor Ofev (nintedanib) in the treatment …
