Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has teamed up with Biolojic Design to develop a potential novel antibody-based therapy for atopic dermatitis and asthma.
Biolojic Design is a biotechnology company that leverages computational biology and artificial intelligence (AI) to transform antibodies into intelligent medicinal solutions.
Teva has signed an exclusive license agreement with Biolojic Design for its BD9 multibody.
Under the terms of the agreement, Teva will receive exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise BD9 multibody across the world.
In exchange, Biolojic will receive an upfront payment, along with milestone payments, contingent on achieving certain pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones.
The biotechnology company is also eligible for tiered royalties on sales of the product.
Teva president and CEO Richard Francis said: “Our Pivot to Growth strategy is opening a new era for Teva as we step up innovation and accelerate the development of novel therapies in our immunology pipeline powered both by our inherent antibody engineering capabilities and exciting partnerships.
“Based on the size of the indications and validity of the targets, this collaboration with Biolojic presents an incredible opportunity to bring this treatment to many patients.
“As BD9 can tune itself to the specific underlying conditions of the disease and potentially help more patients who do not respond to current therapies and improve outcomes for existing responders and thus addressing a large unmet need.”
BD9 is a dual-specific antibody designed as a multi-specific antibody (multibody), intended to treat inflammatory diseases, including atopic dermatitis and asthma.
The drug works by blocking both Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) and Interleukin 13 (IL-13) to deliver treatment across typically TH2-driven inflammatory diseases.
According to Teva, the currently approved therapeutics focus on any one of the two inflammation drivers and do not respond to pathway dynamics.
BD9, with upregulated TSLP or IL13, can bind to both targets with high affinity, to help more patients and improve outcomes.
Furthermore, Teva said that the licence agreement supports its ‘Pivot to Growth’ strategy announced in May 2023, and enhances its early-stage pipeline.