Xencor's initiation of novel monoclonal antibody human clinical trial triggers milestone payment from Pfizer

Xencor, Inc., a company using Fc engineering for the discovery and development of next-generation antibodies, announced today that the Company received a milestone payment from Pfizer Inc. The amount of the payment was not disclosed. The payment was triggered by the initiation of human clinical trials of a novel monoclonal antibody therapeutic that was optimized using Xencor technologies under a March 2009 technology license agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer has access to Xencor’s antibody optimization technology during a non-exclusive research period for evaluation of the Fc engineering technology in several of its discovery projects.

“Xencor’s Fc antibody technologies continue to be validated by the progress our team and partners are making in developing next-generation therapeutic antibodies and advancing them into the clinic,” said Bassil Dahiyat, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Xencor.