Xoma To Outlicense Genimune

Xoma Corporation is to halt further internal development of Genimune, its gelonin-based immunofusion product, and is actively seeking a partner to act as a licensee.

The company recently received a US patent for first composition of matter claims for analogs of the recombinant product (Marketletter January 16). Therapeutic indications for the product are expected to be autoimmune diseases and cancer, specifically leukemia and lymphomas. The current status of the product, a spokesperson for the company told the Marketletter, is sufficient to allow a licensee to enter into toxicity studies and then proceed into the Investigational New Drug stage of development.

Concentration On Core Products The reasoning behind the outlicensing decision is so that the company can concentrate on its products based on recombinant bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (rBPI). The refocusing of the product pipeline should allow for an acceleration of rBPI-based products, said the spokesperson. The company's lead product, Neuprex, is scheduled to enter Phase II clinical efficacy studies for multiple indications in trauma and infectious diseases during the first half of this year.