Oxford Bio licenses cancer drug to AHP

22 January 2001

Oxford BioMedica has licensed rights to an anticancer drug to AmericanHome Products in an agreement which could be worth up to $24 million, plus royalties, to the UK firm. The deal centers on the development and commercialization of an Oxford BioMedica antibody, directed against a novel tumor-associated antigen (OBA1) that is thought to be expressed on a wide range of solid tumors.

AHP subsidiary Wyeth-Ayerst said it may develop the drug as a "naked" antibody, using it as a stand-alone therapeutic, and/or as an antibody-drug conjugate, for example coupled to Wyeth's proprietary cytotoxic compound, calicheamicin. Calicheamicin is the active component of Mylotarg (gemtuzumab ozogamicin), launched by Wyeth last year for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia in the USA (Marketletter November 20, 2000).

The OBA1 antigen is also the basis for Oxford BioMedica's TroVax anticancer vaccine, which recently entered clinical trials in patients with colorectal cancer (Marketletter January 1 & 8). Antibody-based therapeutics based on this antigen could turn out to be of value in combination therapy with Mylotarg and TroVax.

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