Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT), a clinical-stage oncology company, has entered a multi-year collaboration with Roche to discover advanced antibody-based cancer therapies.
The collaboration will leverage OBT’s expertise in immuno-oncology and Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC)-based therapies to address unmet patient needs in cancer treatment.
It will leverage OBT’s OGAP-Verify discovery platform to identify and validate potential first-in-class targets for drug development.
Roche will lead further research, development, and commercialisation efforts.
OBT will receive up to $36m in upfront payments from Roche, with potential milestone payments exceeding $1bn, alongside product royalties on net sales.
Roche corporate business development head Boris Zaïtra said: “By combining Roche’s expertise in discovering and developing transformative therapeutics with OBT’s innovative target discovery platform, we aim to unlock new possibilities in cancer treatment.
“This partnership underscores our commitment to advancing potentially first-in-class antibody-based therapeutics.
“Together, we aim to accelerate the development of innovative therapies that address major unmet patient needs in oncology.”
The OGAP-Verify platform provides improved target selection capabilities, significantly enhancing the identification and validation of human targets with scientific support.
It is expected to advance the biopharmaceutical capabilities in developing safe and effective cancer medicines.
OBT’s pipeline includes bispecific antibodies and ADC therapeutics, with three programmes in clinical development in Europe and the US.
Its lead clinical programme, OBT076, expanded its US clinical trial in 2021 for patients with advanced or refractory solid tumours, such as bladder, gastric, lung, and ovarian cancer.
Oxford BioTherapeutics CEO Christian Rohlff said: “We are proud to partner with Roche, a global leader in oncology, to accelerate the application of novel cancer targets identified through our proprietary discovery platform, OGAP-Verify.
“This collaboration builds on our efforts to enhance, validate and advance the discovery of oncology targets, and we look forward to leveraging Roche’s deep expertise to translate these insights into potential new treatments for patients.
“Our discovery philosophy is very patient-centric and Roche’s strength to integrate pharma and diagnostics is unique in the industry.”
