Pfizer and Theraclone in $632 million antibody drug research deal
This article was originally published in Scrip
The US discovery-stage biotech Theraclone Sciences has inked a multi-year R&D collaboration with Pfizer, with a potential $632 million in funding and milestones, in which the company will use its proprietary I-STAR discovery platform to help the pharma to identify monoclonal antibodies against up to four undisclosed targets in the areas of cancer and infectious disease.
I-STAR can quickly test tens of thousands of antibodies to determine those with the most biologic activity, Theraclone noted. Its platform allows it to comprehensively screen and identify the rare antibodies that select individuals produce to successfully ward off disease, the company says.
The deal is viewed as a coup for Theraclone, and one that validates its technology. Although the companies did not disclose details on financial structure, the partnership will provide Theraclone with new research funding. Dr Steven Gillis, the interim CEO of Theraclone and a managing director with Arch Venture Partners, told The New York Times that about 30-40% of the deal, or $189 million to $252 million, represents "near-term" money from milestones before the Phase II clinical trials. Theraclone could also earn royalties on any developed products. Pfizer will be responsible for preclinical and clinical development of the antibodies, and will receive an exclusive worldwide licence to any therapeutic antibodies discovered under the collaboration.
"This collaboration with Pfizer, and the recent published success of I-STAR to identify unique antibodies against novel targets in HIV and influenza, increase confidence in Theraclone's approach to search the human immune repertoire to isolate rare and powerful human antibodies that may be of use in the treatment of multiple diseases," commented Dr Gillis.
Pfizer has moved forward on antibody discovery. It recently agreed to pay Seattle Genetics about $8 million upfront and up to $200 million in progress-dependent milestones to access the company's antibody platform for a single oncology target (scripintelligence.com, 7 January 2011).
Theraclone, a venture-founded company that began operations in 2005, has not moved any of its own development pipeline into clinical trials, but it has programmes in infectious disease and inflammation. The company struck a partnership in 2009 with Japan-based Zenyaku Kogyo worth $18 million to develop broadly protective MAbs for the treatment of pandemic influenza and severe seasonal influenza (scripintelligence.com, 7 October 2009). That deal came about a month after Theraclone and its academic collaborators published a paper in Science, reporting on the successful isolation of two novel, broadly neutralising antibodies to the HIV virus from an individual naturally protected from the influenza virus.