Date: May 27, 2014 Author: Ron Leuty Source: bizjournals (
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CytomX Therapeutics Inc. will get $50 million upfront from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in a research and licensing deal centered on a next generation of antibodies designed to rally the immune system to fight cancer.
The third deal cut by the South San Francisco company over the past year also could net preclinical development milestones, which weren't specified by the companies, and up to $1.2 billion in development milestones — or $298 million per target.
CytomX also would receive royalties on drugs that are eventually approved and sold.
The deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), announced Tuesday morning, centers on developing up to four targets using CytomX's Probodies to stimulate the immune system to fight cancer.
CytomX's other deals — with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and, earlier this year, ImmunoGen Inc. — have focused on Probody-drug conjugates that couple immune system-boosting antibodies with a toxic payload.
Probodies— the company's trademarked term — are monoclonal antibodies designed to sneak onto a cancer cell before they are unmasked and released in the tumor microenvironment. That stealth movement, the company says, allows Probodies to better target cancer cells without many of the side effects of anti-cancer treatments.
"This strategic alliance with Bristol-Myers Squibb demonstrates that our innovative Probody platform has the potential to enable novel therapies in this transformational area of cancer research and development," CytomX CEO Sean McCarthy said in a press release.
CytomX, spun out of the University of California, Santa Barbara, is backed by Third Rock Ventures, Canaan Partners and the Roche Venture Fund. It moved to South San Francisco in 2010.
