French biotech GamaMabs Pharma has licensed technology owned by AstraZeneca’s MedImmune to research and produce a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) to treat cancer.
Under the agreement, GamaMabs will have the exclusive right to use MedImmune’s proprietary pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) toxin and linker technology to develop an ADC against a single target, suitable as a therapeutic for a broad variety of solid tumours.
In return, MedImmune will bag an upfront payment, development and commercial milestone payments, as well as royalties on net sales, and the firm also hold the right to negotiate a license to develop and commercialise any products created by GamaMabs with the PBD technology.
GamaMabs’ innovative antibodies, in combination with MedImmune’s unique PBD technology, “are expected to show a promising capacity to deliver the potent PBD payload to cancer cells expressing a selected target,” according to the press release.
