Affitech and Cancer Research Technology in antibody deal
The deal covers rights to antibodies that recognise and block the function of CCR4
Affitech has signed a license agreement with Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the commercial arm of Cancer Research UK. The agreement grants Affitech exclusive rights to a CRT patent application and relevant know how to develop and use therapeutic antibodies that recognise and block the function of CCR4, a protein found on certain tumours - including early and late stage cervical cancer and esophageal cancer.
Affitech will continue to develop its existing anti-CCR4 antibody programme AT008, which is currently in pre-clinical development, and it will be able to use any candidate identified in that programme in the future for the licensed diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
Cancer Research UK-funded scientist, Professor Frances Balkwill, based at Queen Mary University of London was first to discover that CCR4 is present on cancer cells in various solid tumours, and was a promising target for new drugs to treat a range of cancer types. Cancer Research Technology holds a patent application based on this research and Cancer Research UK has funded further research to prove that CCR4 is a valuable therapeutic target.
Coinciding with the license deal, Cancer Research Technology, Affitech and QMUL have also signed a collaborative agreement to provide pre-clinical validation for Affitech’s AT008 programme – with the aim of proving the potential of the AT008 program as a new drug programme to treat cancer using techniques developed in Professor Balkwill’s laboratory. This program will be fully funded by Affitech.
Under the license, Cancer Research Technology will receive an initial signature payment, as well as pre-clinical and clinical development milestone payments, and royalties on sales of CCR4 antibodies developed by Affitech.