BioAtla signs deal with Pfizer to co-develop new antibody therapeutics

The new therapies will be developed using BioAtla’s conditionally active biologics (CAB) platform and Pfizer’s antibody drug conjugate (ADC) payloads.

The deal gives both companies a license to each other’s respective technology to undertake the development of various CAB-ADC antibodies, which intend to address the limitations of the existing ADC antibody technology by actively binding to antigens found on tumour tissue-resident cancer cells, but not to the similar antigens expressed on healthy tissues.

Pfizer will secure an exclusive option to develop and commercialize BioAtla CAB antibodies that target CTLA4, a validated immuno-oncology target in humans.

The companies will receive milestone payments and royalties depending on individual CAB-ADC antibody candidates developed and commercialised by the other party.

Pfizer will pay BioAtla more than $1bn in upfront, regulatory and sales milestone payments as well as tiered marginal royalties on potential future product sales.

BioAtla co-founder, president, CEO and chairman of the board Jay Short said: "CAB-ADC antibodies and CAB immune checkpoint inhibitors such as those targeting CTLA-4 can potentially improve current therapies and enable combination immuno-oncology treatments for many cancers.

"This agreement combines the therapeutic effectiveness of Pfizer’s clinically validated ADC technology with the safety and expansive receptor applicability of BioAtla CAB antibodies."

Earlier this month, Pfizer signed a drug discovery collaboration agreement with Heptares Therapeutics. The deal focuses on G protein-coupled receptor targets across several therapeutic areas.

Image: Pfizer World Headquarters in New York City. Photo: courtesy of Norbert Nagel, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany.