TOKYO
Sosei Group Corporation (“Sosei”; TSE Mothers Index: 4565) today announces Heptares Therapeutics (“Heptares”), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Sosei, and Kymab Limited, a leading human monoclonal antibody biopharmaceutical company, have entered into a strategic collaboration to discover, develop and commercialise novel antibody therapeutics targeting a number of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) with an initial focus on immuno-oncology.
Immuno-oncology is an exciting new area in the treatment of cancer where the body’s immune system is activated to produce an immune response targeted at tumour cells. Immunotherapy drugs are poised to revolutionise the way cancer is treated and a number of immunotherapy antibody treatments have recently been approved. GPCRs are widely expressed on cells of the innate and adaptive immune system and play key roles in modulating cell migration and recruitment to the tumour environment, activation, survival, proliferation and differentiation. GPCRs act at critical checkpoints that can be targeted by novel immunotherapy antibodies.
Under the agreement, Heptares will apply its StaR® platform to create stable antigens based on multiple GPCR targets chosen by the companies. Kymab will then use its Kymouse™ human antibody discovery platform to generate antibodies in response to immunisation with these antigens. The Kymouse platform will assure the highest probability of finding the best-in-class antibodies with highly attractive drug properties. Promising leads will be progressed using the partners’ complementary skills, resources and development capabilities in order to bring innovative products into the clinic. Under the agreement, the companies will jointly conduct and share the costs of each antibody discovery and development programme.
Malcolm Weir, Chairman and CEO of Heptares, said: “GPCRs have long been intractable targets for antibody discovery resulting in dearth of products. We believe that our proven StaR technology can unlock this substantial opportunity, not just in immuno-oncology but also across other therapeutic areas where GPCR-targeted biologics could have a significant impact. By entering into strategic collaborations with companies with world-leading antibody discovery technologies, such as Kymab, we have the potential to discover, develop, and commercialise a highly valuable pipeline of new biologic products.”
David Chiswell, Chairman and CEO of Kymab, said: “Antibodies are important therapeutic agents for cancer and other indications. Our collaboration with Heptares will allow us to combine stable antigens based on multiple GPCR targets with our world-class Kymouse platform, which has unparalleled diversity and will therefore rapidly identify and yield highly selective potent human monoclonal antibodies for unmet medical needs.”
Notes to Editors
About Heptares Therapeutics
Heptares is a clinical-stage company creating transformative medicines targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a superfamily of 375 receptors linked to a wide range of human diseases. Heptares’ proprietary StaR® technology and structure-based drug design (SBDD) capabilities enable us to engineer and develop drugs for highly validated, yet historically undruggable or challenging GPCRs. Using this approach, we are building an exciting pipeline of new medicines (small molecules and biologics) with the potential to transform the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, cancer immune-oncology, migraine, addiction, metabolic disease and other indications. We have partnerships for our novel candidates and technologies with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Allergan, AstraZeneca, Kymab, MedImmune, MorphoSys, Pfizer and Teva.
Heptares is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sosei Group Corporation. For more information, please visit www.heptares.com and www.sosei.com.
HEPTARES is a registered trademark in the EU, Switzerland, US and Japan;
StaR® is a registered trademark in the EU and Japan.
About Sosei
Sosei is a biopharmaceutical company originating from Japan but with global presence. Sosei’s primary business model is based on identifying novel and/or differentiated product assets or technology platforms and, through supporting these in preclinical and clinical development and establishing commercial partnerships, advancing new medicines to patients worldwide. For further information about Sosei, please visit www.sosei.com/en.
About Kymab
Kymab is a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of fully human monoclonal antibody drugs using its proprietary Kymouse antibody platform.
Kymouse has been designed to maximise the diversity of human antibodies produced in response to immunisation with antigens. Selecting from a broad diversity of fully human antibodies assures the highest probability of finding that rare drug candidate with best-in-class characteristics. The Kymouse naturally matures these molecules to highly potent drugs obviating the need for further time-consuming modifications. Kymab is using the platform for its internal drug discovery programmes and in partnership with pharmaceutical companies. Kymab commenced operations in 2010 and has raised over US$120m of equity financing which includes $90m Series B financing. It has an experienced management team with a successful track record in drug discovery and development and has numerous therapeutic antibody programmes in immune-oncology, auto-immunity; hematology, infectious disease and other areas.
http://www.kymab.com
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development and commercialisation of products. Various risks may cause Sosei’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programmes; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialise products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialisation activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160418005421/en/
CONTACT
Sosei Group Corporation
Tokyo Office
Investor Relations
Harumi
BANSE, +81-(0)3-5210-3399
hbanse@sosei.com
or
London
Office
Corporate Communications
Kathryn LYDON,
+44-(0)20-7691-0983
klydon@sosei.com
