Caris Life Sciences (Caris), the leading molecular science and technology company, and Xencor, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced a multi-year strategic option and license agreement to research, develop and commercialize XmAb bispecific antibodies directed against novel targets for the treatment of patients with cancer.
Under the terms of the agreement, Caris will apply its proprietary end-to-end discovery platform, Caris Discovery, to identify novel targets for bispecific antibody drug candidates. Caris Discovery combines insights generated from molecular interrogation of primary patient tissues using ADAPT, the company’s exclusive aptamer-based proteomic profiling platform; a robust validation pipeline; and CODEai, the company’s proprietary real-world data platform that integrates Caris’ extensive catalog of molecular data with cancer treatment information. This results in a highly differentiated, orthogonal multi-omics method for target-based discovery.
“There is a critical need to address the paucity of novel therapeutic targets in oncology,” said David Spetzler, M.S., Ph.D., MBA, president and chief scientific officer of Caris. “Consequently, we have launched a comprehensive platform agnostic to therapeutic modality to discover and validate novel cancer targets. Our collaboration with Xencor will combine Caris’ proprietary, multi-omics target discovery engine and Xencor’s XmAb engineering platform to design and manufacture investigational bispecific antibodies to develop first-in-class therapies for patients with cancer.”
“Our collaboration with Caris leverages the plug-and-play nature of the XmAb platform, combining Xencor’s extensive set of protein engineering tools and capabilities with Caris’ innovation in precision oncology,” said John Desjarlais, Ph.D., senior vice president and chief scientific officer of Xencor. “Caris has built a unique target discovery platform, coupled with deep genomics information, that will enhance our ability to create and evaluate a new generation of XmAb bispecific and multi-specific antibodies, including T cell engagers, NK cell engagers and other modalities.”
As part of the agreement, Xencor will receive exclusive options to research, develop and commercialize products directed to up to three targets. Caris will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible to receive up to approximately $120 million in license fees, discovery, development, regulatory and sales-based milestones, in addition to royalty payments on net sales of each product commercialized by Xencor and future rights for molecular profiling and companion diagnostics for drug candidates developed under the collaboration.
XmAb is a registered trademark of Xencor, Inc.
Caris Life Sciences (Caris) is the leading molecular science and technology company actively developing and delivering innovative solutions to revolutionize healthcare and improve patient outcomes.
Caris Discovery is an innovative end-to-end discovery platform that combines insights generated from molecular interrogation of primary patient tissues using ADAPT, the company’s exclusive aptamer-based proteomic profiling platform, and CODEai, the company’s proprietary real-world data platform that integrates Caris’ extensive catalog of molecular data with cancer treatment information.
Xencor is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered antibodies and cytokines for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
|