Theraclone Sciences, Inc., a therapeutic antibody discovery and development company, announced today that they have entered into a multi-year research and development collaboration with Pfizer. The collaboration will use Theraclone's I-STAR™ technology to discover broadly protective monoclonal antibodies against up to four undisclosed targets in the areas of infectious disease and cancer. I-STAR™ technology is used to screen and identify novel human antibodies to pathogenic agents and endogenous therapeutic targets and is unique in its ability to rapidly test the function of tens of thousands of natural human antibodies and find those with exceptional biologic activity.
“The I-STAR™ platform has been designed to discover broadly reactive, potent antibodies with high specificity for valuable targets”
Under the terms of the agreement, Theraclone and Pfizer will embark on a discovery program to identify broadly reactive antibodies directed against up to two infectious disease targets and up to two cancer targets. Pfizer will receive an exclusive worldwide license to any therapeutic antibodies discovered under the collaboration. Theraclone is eligible to receive undisclosed royalties on sales of any developed products and up to $632 million in research funding and milestone payments upon the achievement of discovery, development, regulatory and commercialization milestones. Pfizer will be responsible for preclinical and clinical development of the antibodies.
"The I-STAR™ platform has been designed to discover broadly reactive, potent antibodies with high specificity for valuable targets," commented Dr. Steven Gillis, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Theraclone and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners. "This collaboration with Pfizer, and the recent published success of I-STAR™ to identify unique antibodies against novel targets in HIV and influenza, increase confidence in Theraclone's approach to search the human immune repertoire to isolate rare and powerful human antibodies that may be of use in the treatment of multiple diseases."
"Antibodies represent a very exciting class of biotherapeutics for Pfizer to combat infectious disease and are a proven approach to cancer treatment," commented Jose-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos, Pfizer's Senior Vice President of Worldwide BioTherapeutics Research & Development. "Theraclone's platform technology represents an important advancement in fully-human therapeutic antibody discovery, which we believe has the potential to deliver a new generation of improved therapeutic antibodies more efficiently."
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