Oxford BioTherapeutics Grants Third Exclusive License to Boehringer Ingelheim for Development and Commercialization of Antibody Products to a Novel Oncology Target

OXFORD, England and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT), a clinical stage oncology company with a pipeline of immuno-oncology and Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC)-based therapies, today announced that Boehringer Ingelheim has exercised its option to receive exclusive rights to a third novel oncology target from an ongoing discovery collaboration. The target was discovered using OBTs proprietary OGAP^® drug discovery platform, which incorporates one of the world's largest proteomic databases, integrating clinical, experimental and expression data. The option triggers another milestone payment from Boehringer Ingelheim to OBT.

Under the terms of the agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim will be responsible for the future development and commercialization of antibody products to the target. OBT will receive development and regulatory milestone payments as well as royalties on any future product sales. This represents the third asset to be optioned under the longstanding partnership between OBT and Boehringer Ingelheim, with the first two programs already in clinical development.  

"Boehringer Ingelheim's decision to exercise its option on a third oncology drug target, developed under our collaboration, is further validation of our proprietary OGAP^® drug discovery platform," said OBT's Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Christian Rohlff. "Selecting the right target is fundamental for the successful development of a first-in-class antibody drug product. OBT's platforms are designed to discover and engineer antibody constructs to novel therapeutic targets – including bi-specific, Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell (CAR-T), other T- cell and NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and ADC therapeutics – to best address difficult-to-treat cancers. We believe that the advancement of the first two Boehringer Ingelheim compounds, directed to oncology targets identified by us, into the clinic, further validates our approach."

In addition to the programs in the partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim, OBT's own clinical assets have also been enabled through the OGAP^® discovery platform. A major differentiator between OBT's discovery platform and other approaches is the retention of the link between individual patient samples through to the design of therapeutic antibodies and diagnostic patient selection tools, which increases the overall success rate of these novel compounds transitioning into clinical development.

About Oxford BioTherapeutics

Oxford BioTherapeutics 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 designed to fulfill major unmet patient needs in cancer therapeutics. These include bispecific, Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell (CAR-T), ADC and Antibody Dependent Cell-mediated Cytotoxicity (ADCC) therapeutics.

OBT's first clinical program, OBT076, initiated expansion in a U.S. Clinical Trial in 2021 in patients with advanced or refractory solid tumors, including gastric, bladder, ovarian and lung cancer, where CD205 is overexpressed. Infiltration of tumors by immunosuppressive cells correlates with adverse outcomes (lower profession free and overall survival), suggesting that this process contributes to the progression of several cancers.

OBT's proprietary OGAP® target discovery platform is based on one of the world's largest proprietary cancer membrane proteomic databases, with data on over 5,000 cancer cell proteins providing unique, highly qualified oncology targets, of which three programs are in clinical development in the USA and Europe. OBT's IO discovery process provides unique insights into the cancer - immune cell synapse and has identified several novel IO monoclonal and bispecific antibody candidates for cancer therapies.

OBT's pipeline and development capabilities have been validated through multiple strategic partnerships including with Boehringer Ingelheim and our cell therapy research collaboration with Kite Pharma as well as other world leaders in antibody development (such as Amgen, Immunogen, WuXi, Medarex (BMS), Alere (Abbott), BioWa, and Nerviano). 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

Investors:

Dr Christian Rohlff, CEO 
christian.r@oxfordbiotherapeutics.com

Media:

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting
Sylvie Berrebi, David Dible, Eleanor Perkin, George Underwood
E : OBT@medistrava.com
T : +44 (0)203 928 6900