The Swiss healthcare company signs its third antibody-drug deal this year with the Oxford-based biotechnology company.
Swiss multinational holding healthcare company Roche has signed a multi-year collaboration with Oxford BioTherapeutics to discover novel antibody-based therapeutics to treat cancer. The biotechnology company will receive up to US$36 million in upfront payments from Roche.
Oxford BioTherapeutics has developed a discovery platform which enables greater sensitivity and thereby the selection of targets with improved attributes for drug development.
Under the terms of the agreement, targets are identified via Oxford BioTherapeutics’ platform and will be validated through the research collaboration. Any further research, development and commercialisation efforts against these targets will be driven by Roche.
As well as the upfront payment, the firm said that it might also be eligible to receive milestone payments plus product royalties on net sale.
“By combining Roche’s expertise in discovering and developing transformative therapeutics with Oxford BioTherapeutics’ innovative target discovery platform, we aim to unlock new possibilities in cancer treatment,” said BorisZaïtra, head of corporate business development at Roche.
The deal marks the third antibody-drug deal for Roche this year and follows similar pacts with China’s Innovent Biologics and Zurich-based Araris Biotech in January.
