Cancer Research Technology licenses therapeutic antibodies to Peptech

May 2 2007

Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT), the oncology-focused development and commercialisation company, today announces it has licensed rights to a panel of cancer therapeutic antibodies to Peptech Limited.

CRT has granted Peptech an exclusive worldwide licence to a panel of cancer therapeutic antibodies for therapeutic, vaccine and in vitro diagnostic use. The antibodies were originally licensed by CRT to UK biotechnology company Scancell Limited (Scancell), who selected two preclinical lead antibodies, SC101 and SC104 for development in colorectal cancer. Peptech has acquired the entire panel of cancer therapeutic antibodies and the intellectual property relating to these programmes from both Scancell and CRT. Scancell is now using the revenue to progress its novel cancer vaccine platform that it co-developed with CRT.

The panel of antibodies was originally developed by Cancer Research UK-funded studies led by Professor Lindy Durrant at the University of Nottingham and targets antigens that are over-expressed on a variety of tumours. SC101 is a mouse monoclonal antibody recognising Lewis y/b.

Unlike other known Lewis y/b antibodies, SC101 binds to both haptens on a range of solid tumours and, unusually, does not bind to normal gastrointestinal tract. The antibody has been shown to induce death in tumour cells that over-express Lewis y/b without the need of immune effector cells in vitro. The same cell model has also been used to demonstrate that SC101 inhibits the growth of human colon tumour xenografts and enhances 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucovorin killing.

SC104 is a novel mouse monoclonal antibody that recognises a cell surface antigen expressed by 90% of colorectal tumours at all clinical stages. It was generated against 4 different colorectal tumour cell lines and antigen characterisation has shown that the antibody recognises an as yet unknown sialyltetraosylceramide. SC104 directly induces tumour-specific cell death without the need for immune effector cells by induction of caspase-mediated apoptosis. The SC104 antibody also kills synergistically with 5FU/leucovorin both in vitro and in vivo.

Financial details of CRT's agreement with Peptech were not disclosed, but CRT will receive development-based milestones and royalty payments on sales.

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