Boehringer Ingelheim Acquires Fourth License for the Development of Novel Antibody Based Cancer Treatments from Oxford BioTherapeutics
Oxford, UK and San Jose, California, 9 January 2024 - Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT), a clinical stage oncology company with a pipeline of immuno-oncology and Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC)-based therapies, today announced that Boehringer Ingelheim has exercised an option for rights to a fourth novel oncology target from an ongoing discovery collaboration. The target was discovered using OBTs proprietary OGAP® splice variant discovery platform and the option exercise triggers a milestone payment to OBT.
Immuno-oncological therapies have transformed the cancer treatment landscape. They are however only effective in a subset of patients, requiring the identification of novel immunotherapy targets. The collaboration with Oxford BioTherapeutics complements Boehringer Ingelheim’s development of next-generation life-changing cancer immunotherapies with the identification of unique and specific tumor antigens.
Dr. Christian Rohlff, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are thrilled that Boehringer Ingelheim has chosen to exercise its option to secure rights to a fourth novel oncology drug target from our proprietary OGAP® discovery platform. This decision further validates the potential of our discovery platform and reflects our shared commitment to pioneering advancements that bring promising targets addressing unmet medical needs in cancer treatment.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim will be responsible for the future development and commercialization of antibody products for the target. OBT will receive potential development and regulatory milestone payments as well as royalties on potential future product sales. This represents the fourth asset to be optioned under the longstanding partnership between OBT and Boehringer Ingelheim, with the first two programs already in clinical development.
OBTs proprietary OGAP® splice variant discovery platform is a novel part of one of the world’s largest proteomic databases, integrating clinical, experimental and expression data.
OBT’s recently launched enhanced OGAP®-Verify discovery platform allows for enhanced sensitivity with improved target selection, addressing some of the challenges in the design of therapeutic antibodies and diagnostic patient selection tools, which increases the overall success rate of these novel compounds transitioning into clinical development.
