OGeS and Medarex establish new AB deal

UK Oxford Genome Sciences and US drugmaker Medarex say they have established a new collaboration agreement, which will provide the UK firm with broad access to the latter's fully-human antibody technology. OGeS said that the deal, which is the second strategic collaboration between the two companies (Marketletter May 15, 2006), will allow it to accelerate the development of its novel pipeline of antibody-based cancer therapeutics.

Under the terms of the accord, OGeS will license Medarex' proprietary transgenic mouse technology for the generation of antibodies against targets identified using its OGAP database. OGeS retains all rights to any candidates that are generated, while Medarex is entitled to sales royalties if any product is successfully commercialized. Financial details were not disclosed.

In parallel to this agreement, OGeS has entered into a deal with US company BioSite, a proteomics-based diagnostic specialist, under which Medarex will provide BioSite with access to its transgenic technology to enable it to carry out research on the UK firm's behalf. In return, BioSite has been granted access to some of OGeS' diagnostic targets in colorectal and ovarian cancer.