Orion Corporation and Alligator Bioscience announced that they have entered into a research collaboration and license agreement to discover and develop together new bispecific antibody cancer therapeutics.
The research collaboration is focused on the discovery of novel bispecific antibodies directed towards immuno-oncology targets selected by Orion. The agreement covers an option to develop three bispecific antibodies. The agreement calls for Alligator Bioscience to employ its proprietary phage display libraries and RUBY™ bispecific platform to develop immuno-oncology product candidates based on design criteria identified by Orion.
During the research period of the collaboration, Alligator Bioscience will receive an upfront payment and research support payments. Should Orion trigger its option to continue development and commercialization of the product candidates, Alligator Bioscience would be eligible for development, approval and sales milestone payments for all three projects in addition to royalties.
Outi Vaarala, Senior Vice President, R&D, Orion, said: “We are particularly pleased with this collaboration with Alligator Bioscience to develop new immuno-oncology treatments mobilizing the immune system to eliminate cancer cells. Bispecific antibodies provide as a tool many advantages for the next generation immuno-oncology treatments with improved efficacy, particularly in the cancer patients who do not respond to the present available therapeutics.”
“We are excited to enter into this collaborative research program which combines Alligator Bioscience’s expertise in antibody discovery and immuno-oncology development with Orion’s insights into novel immuno-oncology approaches,” said Søren Bregenholt, CEO of Alligator Bioscience. Bregenholt continued, “This agreement validates that Alligator Bioscience’s extensive range of phage display libraries and our RUBY bispecific platform offer a solid foundation to identify and develop high quality first-in-class therapeutic antibodies with excellent manufacturability characteristics.”
