Telix and Abzena sign licence agreement on Prostate cancer antibodies
Abzena
15.75p
16:24 11/10/18
Melbourne, Australia based biopharmaceutical company Telix have signed a proprietary licencing agreement with Abzena out of Cambridge for their prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA).
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
21,866.08
16:59 23/04/24
Christian Behrenbruch, CEO of Telix Pharmaceuticals said they chose to work with Abzena because of their "proven expertise in antibody engineering and conjugation2 and noted that "there are currently 12 antibody drugs in the clinic that harness Abzena’s technology".
The technology is used to create radio-immunoconjugates – a drug used principally for the treatment of blood disorders such as Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, as its success on solid tumours is much more moderate. It is a radioactive substance that carries radiation directly to cancer cells by attaching radioactive isotopes to immune substances such as monoclonal body that can then be bound to the cancer cells which minimises radiation exposure to healthy tissue.
However, Telix who intend to continue investigation on the therapeutic uses of radio- immunoconjugates as a "site specific precision medication" also hope with Abzena’s Composite Human Antibody technology that those PSMA antibodies can be used as the first step in further research in to the understanding of using radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic imaging.
John Burt, CEO of Abzena said that agreement that could generate in excess of $65m USD in licence fees (subject to successful development of the drugs) was "validity of our [Abzena’s] combined services and technology licensing business model".