Oxford BioTherapeutics Expands Strategic Collaboration with WuXi Biologics and Licenses WuXiBody? Platform for Five Bispecific Antibody Programs for up to $450 Million
Shanghai China and Oxford UK,WuXi Biologics (2269.HK), a leading
global open-access biologics technology platform company offering end-to-end solutions for
biologics discovery, development and manufacturing and Oxford BioTherapeutics Ltd.
(?OBT?), a clinical stage oncology company with a pipeline of immuno-oncology and
antibody-drug conjugate based therapies, today announce the expansion of their strategic
and innovative immuno-oncology (IO) alliance through which OBT will research, develop and
commercialize five novel bispecific antibodies for the treatment of several cancer types
using WuXi Biologics? proprietary WuXiBody? Platform. The deal brings together OBT?s
target discovery and development expertise with WuXi Biologics? extensive expertise in
developing world-class bispecific antibodies, to build value for both companies as OBT works
to develop and commercialize this exciting portfolio of potential next generation antibodybased cancer drugs. WuXi Biologics will receive an upfront payment as well as potential
development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments up to $450 million, and will
be entitled to royalties based on global sales of these bispecific antibodies.
?Our immuno-oncology (IO) collaboration with WuXi Biologics, around the WuXiBody?
bispecific platform and clinical mid-stage PDL1 antibody, is a significant step for OBT to
deepen and broaden our exciting first-in-class IO pipeline?, said Dr. Christian Rohlff, CEO of
Oxford BioTherapeutics. ?Combining OBT?s novel second generation IO medicines with a
major check-point pathway into a single entity, with potential broad utility across many solid
and liquid tumor types, is designed to generate novel therapies for patients who do not
benefit from existing IO medicines. Novel products from this collaboration, which combine
multiple treatment modalities into a single agent, will improve the risk/benefit ratio, reduce
costs and optimize future commercial potential. This deal will allow us to clearly
differentiate our product development strategies from existing IO therapies and to generate
products that will play a key role in shaping the future treatment landscape for oncology.
Products from this deal are expected to play a key role in OBT?s commitment to curing
cancer.?
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?We are excited to expand our strategic partnership with OBT to include the proprietary
WuXiBody? platform. This is the 3rd partnership we signed since we globally launched this
exciting platform this September,? said Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics. ?Quick
adoption of our proprietary WuXiBodyTM bispecific platform further validates our beliefs that
this platform addresses most technical limitations of current bispecific platforms and can
potentially tremendously reduce the cost of making these biologics. We have achieved 16g/L
in cell culture titer, 95+% purity after one-step Protein A purification and 95+% step yield for
Protein A step. WuXi Biologics will continue to invest to develop next-generation globally
leading technologies to transform biologics discovery, development and manufacturing.?
About WuXiBodyTM Platform
WuXiBody? bispecific antibody platform, the independent intellectual property owned by
WuXi Biologics, is potentially the Best-in-Class bispecific platform in the field. It can
effectively eliminate CMC challenges of bispecific antibodies, expedite bispecific
development by 6-18 months and significantly reduce manufacturing cost, a current
limitation of most bispecific platforms. WuXiBody? bispecifics have achieved 16g/L in cell
culture titer, 95+% purity after one-step Protein A purification and 95+% step yield for
Protein A step. WuXiBody? Platform enables almost any mAb sequence pairs to be
assembled into bispecific constructs. They are characterized to have low immunogencity,
long in vivo half-life like mAbs and high stability. WuXiBody? Platform also owns its unique
structural flexibility, which makes it possible to build various formats with different valency
(2, 3 or 4 binding sites) to satisfy the needs from different target biology.
About Oxford BioTherapeutics
OBT is a clinical stage oncology company; based in Oxford, UK and San Jose, USA; with a
pipeline of first-in-class immuno-oncology (IO) and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) based
therapies to fulfill major unmet patient needs in the field of cancer. OBT's IO discovery
process provides unique insight into the cancer - immune cell synapse, and has identified
several novel IO candidates for cancer therapy.
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OBT's first two clinical programs are (1) MEN1112 (OBT357), an antibody-dependent cellmediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) candidate targeting Bst1/CD157-expressing AML blasts &
leukemic stem cells, currently in a phase I dose escalation trial for relapsed/refractory Acute
Myeloid Leukemia and (2) MEN1309 (OBT076), a DM4 ADC targeting CD205 in triplenegative metastatic breast cancer, bladder and pancreatic cancers as well as Non-Hodgkin
Lymphoma. MEN1309 (OBT076) is currently also in a EU phase I dose escalation trial.
OBT?s pipeline and development capabilities have been validated through multiple strategic
partnerships including with world leaders in antibody development (such as Seattle
Genetics, Amgen, Alere, BioWa and BMS (Medarex)) and with leading European
pharmaceutical company Menarini, which fully funds the clinical development of two
programs in the EU to completion of phase II proof-of-concept, while OBT retains North
American and Japan commercial rights. Additionally, two pre-clinical stage programs are
partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim. OBT has a strong oncology focused management
team and board with significant experience in developing IO and antibody-based therapies.
For more information on Oxford BioTherapeutics, please visit
www.oxfordbiotherapeutics.com
About WuXi Biologics
WuXi Biologics (stock code: 2269.HK), a Hong Kong-listed company, is the only open-access
biologics technology platform in the world offering end-to-end solutions to empower
organizations to discover, develop and manufacture biologics from concept to commercial
manufacturing. Our company history and achievements demonstrate our commitment to
providing a truly ONE-stop service offering and value proposition to our global clients. As of
June 30, 2018, there were a total of 187 integrated projects, including 98 projects in preclinical development stage, 78 projects in early-phase (phase I and II) clinical development,
10 projects in late-phase (phase III) development and 1 project in commercial
manufacturing. With total estimated capacity of biopharmaceutical production planned in
China, Ireland, Singapore and US reaching 220,000 liters by 2021, we will provide our
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biomanufacturing partners with a robust and premier-quality global supply chain network.
For more information on WuXi Biologics, please visit www.wuxibiologics.com.
Media Contacts:
WuXi Biologics
Jia Li
li_jia0102@wuxiapptec.com
Oxford BioTherapeutics Ltd.
Dr. Christian Rohlff
christian.r@oxfordbiotherapeutics.com
Investor Contact:
David Dible
David.Dible@citigatedewerogerson.com