American early-stage biotech firm Leveragen has signed a collaboration agreement with Moderna for single-domain antibody discovery.
Leveragen specialises in developing next-generation genetic models for antibody discovery.
Under the multi-target research, option, and licence agreement, Leveragen will use its proprietary fully human single domain antibody discovery platform to create a panel of optimised binding modules targeting therapeutic candidates chosen by Moderna.
Moderna will have the option to obtain exclusive rights for the development and commercialisation of the resulting therapeutic products.
Throughout this partnership, Leveragen will lead the discovery of single domain antibody sequences for a range of targets.
Moderna will have the option to exercise its commercial rights to take responsibility for further development and commercialisation.
Furthermore, Leveragen will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and research funding.
The Boston-based company will also get development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, in addition to tiered royalties on global sales.
Leveragen founder and CEO Weisheng Chen said: “Existing models for single domain antibody discovery often encounter challenges including restricted antibody diversity and suboptimal immune responses.
“These issues are a direct result of the limitations associated with conventional transgenic technologies.
“We’ve solved these problems with a targeted approach, creating the Singularity Sapiens Mouse — an industry-leading model with the complete human VH repertoire and robust immune responses.
“Our partnership with Moderna further expands the potential of using single domain antibodies in mRNA therapeutics, offering promising opportunities to address unmet medical needs.”
The latest agreement follows a similar partnership between Leveragen and 92Bio in May this year.
Both companies agreed to use Leveragen’s proprietary Singularity Sapiens Mouse platform to create multi-specific antibodies and other advanced therapeutics.
The Singularity Sapiens Mouse platform is an advanced technology designed to identify and develop fully human single-domain antibodies.
The platform, a product of advanced CRISPR gene editing and chromosome engineering technologies, produces heavy chain antibodies from the complete human VH repertoire.
