There are surely many different things that come together to make human life a special experience, but none of them have proven to be more significant than our ability to grow on a consistent basis. You see, when an individual is able to get better under all possible situations, they eventually conceive a pathway that is pretty much designed to take them towards even greater heights. The same has been validated by everything we have achieved so far, and a notable piece of testimony here is technology. Even though it might seem like a fortunate discovery, technology was actually in the works for a long time. After going through an extensive evolution process, however, it will emerge as strong enough to impact our entire spectrum, and when that’s the dynamic you are playing with, you can always expect a host of beneficiaries. One such beneficiary was our very own healthcare sector. In fact, technology’s foray healthcare couldn’t have materialized at a better time, considering how badly the sector was struggling against an outright obsolete structure. Interestingly, despite giving healthcare a whole new identity, this ingenious creation will continue finding inroads to make the sphere better in one capacity or the other. The same pattern was put on display by a recently-formed partnership.
ImmunoGen, a leader in the expanding field of ADCs for the treatment of cancer, and Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) have officially announced a partnership, which will focus on research, development, and commercialization of first-in-class ADCs. According to certain reports, the companies will build the operation around ImmunoGen’s linker-payload technology, directing it to novel targets identified via OBT’s proprietary OGAP® discovery platform. Talk about why ImmunoGen picked Oxford Therapeutics, as a clinical stage oncology company with a pipeline of inventive immuno-oncology and Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC)-based therapies, it was really a natural partner to advance the study on ADCs. If we put our stock in the available details, OBT will receive an upfront payment for allowing its preclinical programs to be a part of the partnership. This is aside from all the other revenue that these organizations can generate on the back of their link-up.
“OBT has demonstrated expertise in identifying novel targets for the development of specific antibodies – two key components to generating successful ADCs,” said Stacy Coen, ImmunoGen’s Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer. “This expertise, combined with ImmunoGen’s portfolio of cancer-killing payloads and linkers, will be instrumental as both companies work to develop novel ADCs designed to address cancers with high unmet need. We look forward to working with OBT as we expand and diversify our investment in ADC research capabilities, deepen our pipeline, and transition to a fully-integrated oncology company.”
Once antibodies generated by OBT establish a sustainable connection with ImmunoGen’s proprietary linker-payload technology, the companies will have an option to pick a particular program and develop it separately on their own dime. The stated choice will then decide how much each partner earns from an overall standpoint.
