Emergent And MorphoSys To Co-Develop Prostate Cancer Drug
Emergent BioSolutions announced that it has signed an agreement with therapeutic antibody specialist firm MorphoSys to co-develop and commercialize its preclinical bi-specific antibody ES414 as treatment for prostate cancer.
ES414 is an immunotherapeutic protein that activates host T-cell immunity particularly against prostate cancer cells which overly express a target antigen. ES414 has demonstrated ability to redirect T-cell cytotoxicity against prostate cancer cells expressing Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) in preclinical trials. The protein is developed by Emergent using its proprietary modular protein technology platform Adaptir.
Under the terms of agreement, MorphoSys will make an upfront payment of $20 million and up to $163 million in milestone payments to Emergent. These will be triggered by certain pre-agreed events such as successful development and regulatory approvals. The partners will jointly develop ES414 with 64 percent of the cost to be borne by MorphoSys and 36 percent by Emergent. No financial terms of the agreement were disclosed by either company.
As part of the agreement, the drug will be renamed MOR209/ES414. MorphoSys will acquire global rights except for the U.S. and Canada. Emergent will be responsible for the manufacture and supply of necessary clinical materials from its manufacturing sites in Baltimore, Maryland.
Barry Labinger, EVP and President Biosciences Division at Emergent BioSolutions, said, “Emergent looks forward to collaborating with MorphoSys… Progress with ES414 will help validate our Adaptir platform, which we believe has broad potential to generate additional novel treatments for cancer and other important diseases. We are encouraged by our partnership with MorphoSys and the continued interest of multiple parties in our Adaptir platform.”
Arndt Schottelius, Chief Development Officer of MorphoSys, said that the company is delighted to collaborate with Emergent and advance ES414 into clinical development as quickly as possible. “We believe ES414 has the potential to be an important therapy for prostate cancer, where there is a pressing need for better treatments. The preclinical data suggest that the molecule has a number of potential advantages over other drug candidates in this indication.” This is not the only work the company has been doing as of late in the realms of cancer treatments. In June, MorphoSys announced that it entered into a strategic immuno-oncology collaboration with Merck Serono to jointly develop therapeutic antibodies targeting confidential immune checkpoints.
MorphoSys and Emergent anticipate launching a Phase I clinical trial investigating ES414 in patients diagnosed with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) in the next six months. Emergent will sponsor the initial phase of the trial in the U.S. and Australia.