Amgen Inc. and Xencor Inc. entered into a research and license agreement to develop and commercialize novel therapeutics in the areas of cancer immunotherapy and inflammation.
The research collaboration brings together Amgen’s capabilities in target discovery and protein therapeutics with Xencor’s XmAb bispecific technology platform.
The collaboration includes molecular engineering by Xencor and the preclinical development of bispecific molecules for five programs proposed by Amgen, leveraging XmAb bispecific Fc domains to make half-life extended T cell engagers and dual targeting bispecific antibodies.
The agreement also includes a preclinical bispecific T cell engager program directed at CD38 and CD3 for multiple myeloma.
Amgen will be fully responsible for preclinical and clinical development and commercialization worldwide. Under the agreement, Xencor will receive a $45 million upfront payment and up to $1.7 billion in clinical, regulatory and sales milestone payments in total for the six programs.
Xencor is eligible to receive mid to high single-digit royalties for candidates directed against Amgen’s targets, and high single to low double-digit royalties for Xencor’s CD38 bispecific T cell engager.
Bispecific technologies seek to engineer monoclonal antibodies to bind two unique drug targets, as opposed to traditional antibodies designed to bind to a single antigen target.
