XOMA Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, and manufacture of therapeutic antibodies to treat inflammatory, autoimmune, infectious, and oncological diseases. Though directly SBIR involved on a very limited basis - and that some considerable time ago - the firm has long been in receipt of very large amounts of funding from other NIH vehicles. The firm also plays a unique role in enabling other biotech s achieve their goal of improving human health. This is accomplished by XOMA acquiring the economic rights to future milestone and royalty payments associated with partnered pre-commercial clinical candidates. In return the seller receives non-dilutive, non-recourse funding to advance their internal drug candidate(s). Example: XOMA receives royalties on products, such as LUCENTIS for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration; and CIMZIA for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease. Other products include XOMA 052, a monoclonal antibody for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and other diseases; and XOMA 3AB, a biodefense anti-botulism antibody for the treatment of botulism poisoning. The company's developing product also includes HCD122, a human anti-CD40 antagonist antibody for the treatment of B-cell mediated diseases, including malignancies and autoimmune diseases in Phase I/II clinical trials for various indications. In addition, it licenses proprietary technologies relating to bacterial expression of recombinant pharmaceutical products to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
