Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) have forged an alliance to discover and develop new T-cell engager (TCE) therapies for solid tumours – building on the latter company’s partnership-heavy growth strategy.
This agreement will see BMS pay an undisclosed value upfront to use OBT’s OGAP-Verify discovery platform, which is designed to identify and validate new tumour-specific targets. BMS will use the technology to discover novel TCEs for various solid tumour indications, though OBT will take control of the design and delivery of development candidates at the preclinical stage.
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Once any of the drugs created in this partnership surpass this stage, the onus will fall on BMS to deal with any R&D and commercialisation activities linked to discovered candidates. OBT will be eligible to receive milestone payments, as well as royalties on net sales of any drugs created through this collaboration.
The partnership comes as OBT’s CEO, Christian Rohlff, tells Pharmaceutical Technology that 90% of the antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and TCEs that have reached the clinic in the past two to three years aim to drug existing targets. According to an analysis done by the company, these targets cover just 15% of the general cancer population – highlighting the need to develop advanced therapies for the 85% of ineligible patients.
According to Rohlff, finding novel targets and collaborating with pharma is where OBT can bring the broadest value. “By working with partners on different novel targets, we can have a much greater impact than if we were to only develop one or two programmes against one target and take them to the clinic.”
This led OBT, a privately held company, to take a hybrid approach to conducting business – focusing on its drug discovery technology to generate revenue through pharma collaborations, while using the surplus to develop a complementary internal oncology pipeline. The company also avoids the necessity for external funding through this strategy, as Rohlff noted that its partnerships throughout Europe and the US provide sufficient financial support.
Targeted cancer therapies see a surge
As the oncology sector increasingly trends towards personalised treatment, targeted therapies are beginning to join chemotherapy as the cancer treatment backbone – with several modalities like TCEs, ADCs and multi-specific antibodies taking the fancy of investors and pharma alike.
TCEs have seen a particular wave of interest in recent months, with several healthcare companies inking deals centred around this modality. This includes pharma giants like Gilead Sciences, Astellas and UCB, as well as biotechs like Candid Therapeutics and Medigene. ADCs have also been in the limelight, with Gilead laying out $5bn to acquire ADC specialist, Tubulis and Sidewinder pocketing $137m in a Series B financing round to take its bispecific ADC to the clinic.
According to Rohlff, the interest in TCEs and ADCs has been ongoing for a while. This is primarily due to the continued momentum seen through new data readouts, he said, as well as positive results coming out of Chinese biotech-developed programmes.
Rohlff believes the combination of ballooning innovation in China and less capital available in the US creates an unfavourable IPO market, meaning the company is looking to stay private for now.
According to experts previously interviewed by Pharmaceutical Technology, high-value oncology licensing deals, especially advanced, targeted modalities with novel mechanisms, are driving China’s continued dealmaking boom.
