AgonOx, MedImmune partner to advance OX40 agonist programs for cancer treatment

AgonOx today announced that it has entered into an exclusive global partnership with MedImmune, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, to develop agonists using its OX40 platform. MedImmune will lead further preclinical and clinical studies of this tumor-specific T-cell immunity stimulator for the potential treatment of cancer. "We are very pleased to collaborate with MedImmune to advance our OX40 agonist programs," said AgonOx CEO Llew Keltner, M.D., Ph.D. "MedImmune has impressive capabilities in immuno-oncology, and we believe offers great potential for eventually bringing therapies utilizing the OX40 mechanism to trigger tumorspecific immune responses to patients."

"As the inventor of the OX40 agonist technology, it is gratifying to work with a strong partner to take this significant scientific and therapeutic discovery forward," said Andrew Weinberg, Ph.D., Managing Partner of AgonOx.

MedImmune will also support further OX40 research at Providence Cancer Center, where the foundational preclinical and clinical development of OX40 has been conducted. Additional details of the agreement will not be disclosed.

"Typically, the first line of defense against cancer in the body is the immune system," said Walter Urba, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Cancer Research at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center, Portland, Oregon. "OX40 agonists have shown very intriguing preclinical and clinical behavior in specific activation of T-cells to attack tumors, and I am pleased to have MedImmune engaged in moving OX40 forward into additional human studies."

"Our Foundation has been pleased to support the early fundamental and clinical investigations through Drs. William Redmond and Brendan Curti of the Providence Portland Medical Center," states Howard Soule, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer, the Prostate Cancer Foundation. "We are pleased that a strong partner is now on board to help accelerate development and delivery of this investigational immunotherapy to patients."