VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zymeworks Inc., a leader in the development of bi-specific and multi-specific antibodies and antibody drug conjugates, announced today that it has entered into a new licensing agreement with GSK for the research, development, and commercialization of novel bi-specific antibodies enabled using Zymeworks’ Azymetric™ drug discovery platform. Under the agreement, GSK will have the option to develop and commercialize multiple bi-specific drugs across different disease areas. Zymeworks will receive upfront and preclinical payments of up to USD$36 million and is eligible to receive up to USD$152 million in development and clinical milestone payments, along with commercial sales milestone payments of up to USD$720 million, and tiered royalties on potential sales.
As previously announced in December 2015, Zymeworks and GSK entered into a collaboration and license agreement to further develop Zymeworks’ Effector Function Enhancement and Control Technology (EFECT™) platform and to research, develop, and commercialize novel Fc-engineered monoclonal and bi-specific antibody therapeutics that have been optimized for specific therapeutic effects. As part of this second agreement, GSK has also gained the right to combine the Azymetric™ platform with novel engineered Fc domains developed under the previously announced collaboration.
“We are excited to be expanding our relationship with GSK to include our Azymetric™ bi-specific platform. We view this new collaboration as evidence of our valuable role as a partner and the strength of our proprietary drug development platforms,” said Ali Tehrani, Ph.D., President and CEO of Zymeworks. “The proceeds from this collaboration will be used to advance our pipeline of therapeutic candidates, including the Azymetric™ antibody ZW25 and the Azymetric™ antibody drug conjugate ZW33, into human clinical trials this year. They will also be utilized to support the continued expansion and strengthening of our core capabilities in antibody discovery, protein engineering, and antibody drug conjugates."
About the Azymetric™ Platform
Bi-specific antibodies
developed using the Azymetric™ platform resemble conventional
mono-specific antibodies while being able to simultaneously bind to two
different targets resulting in additive or synergistic therapeutic
responses. Azymetric™ antibodies spontaneously assemble into a single
molecule with two different Fab domains comprising of unique heavy and
light chain pairings. Azymetric™ antibodies are manufactured using
conventional monoclonal antibody processes and can also be easily
adapted to rapidly screen target and sequence combinations for
bi-specific activities in the final therapeutic format thereby
significantly reducing drug development timelines.
About the EFECT™ Platform
The EFECT™ platform is a library
of antibody Fc modifications engineered to modulate the activity of the
antibody-mediated immune response, which includes both the up and
down-regulation of effector functions. This platform is compatible with
traditional monoclonal as well as Azymetric™ bi-specific antibodies to
further enable the customization of therapeutic responses for different
diseases.
About Zymeworks Inc.
Zymeworks is a privately held
biotherapeutics company that is developing best-in-class Azymetric™
bi-specific antibodies and antibody drug conjugates for the treatment of
cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The company’s novel
Azymetric™, AlbuCORE™, and EFECT™ platforms, its Zymelink™ conjugation
platform and cytotoxins, and its proprietary ZymeCAD™ structure-guided
protein engineering technology, enable the development of highly potent
bi-specific antibodies, multivalent protein therapeutics, and antibody
drug conjugates across a range of indications. Zymeworks is focused on
accelerating its preclinical biotherapeutics pipeline through in-house
research and development programs and strategic collaborations. More
information on Zymeworks can be found at www.zymeworks.com.
