Agreement to Progress ADC Candidates to Clinical Use

IONTAS, a leader in services and platform technologies associated with the discovery and optimisation of fully human antibody drugs, is collaborating with antibody drug conjugate (ADC) development company Glythera on research to progress ADCs for difficult-to-treat cancers. As part of the agreement IONTAS will generate human antibodies against specified targets for proof-of-concept studies. Glythera will have an option for exclusive, worldwide rights to resulting antibodies for the development of ADCs alongside its proprietary conjugation platform, PermaLink® and its in-house portfolio of novel toxins, with an intention to nominate its first clinical ADC candidate by 2019. IONTAS will receive undisclosed development and clinical milestone payments on each of the ADCs.

Dr John McCafferty, CEO at IONTAS, commented: “This Agreement reflects the ambition of IONTAS to establish broader relationships with partners for multiple antibody deals using our proprietary technology platforms. We believe our expertise and efficiency in antibody discovery will help Glythera with their ultimate short term goal of being in clinic by 2019.”

Dr Dave Simpson, CEO at Glythera, said: “We identified IONTAS as the ideal partner for antibody discovery, due to their proprietary phage display technology and libraries, providing the potential for development of multiple antibodies. The combination of IONTAS’ experience and expertise, with our proven PermaLink platform, will support our mission to target difficult-to-treat tumours and progress towards the clinic.”