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news.Ligand Pharmaceuticals will get a payment of $2m from WuXi Biologics subsequent to their licensing of exclusive rights to the anti-PD-1 antibody GLS-010 to Arcus Biosciences in North America, Europe, Japan and other selected territories.
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Ligand is also entitled to future milestones and royalties from this antibody.
WuXi Biologics was previously contracted by its Chinese partner Harbin Gloria Pharmaceuticals to discover and develop GLS-010 using Ligand’s OmniAb technology, specifically the OmniRat transgenic rat platform. GLS-010 is currently being evaluated in cancer patients in Phase 1 clinical studies in China.
Arcus Biosciences is a privately held cancer immunotherapy company with headquarters in Hayward, Calif. Arcus plans to develop GLS-010 in combination with other immuno-oncology product candidates in its portfolio.
“OmniAb is a valuable and versatile technology platform and we are delighted with the continued progress being made by our licensees on a global basis,” said John Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of Ligand.
“This transaction illustrates how OmniAb generates payments to Ligand while products are in discovery and development, with potential future milestones and royalty payments as those products progress to market.”
About OmniAb
OmniAb includes three transgenic animal platforms for producing mono- and bispecific human therapeutic antibodies. OmniRat is the industry’s first human monoclonal antibody technology based on rats. It has a complete immune system with a diverse antibody repertoire and generates antibodies with human idiotypes as effectively as wild-type animals make rat antibodies. OmniMouse is a transgenic mouse that complements OmniRat and expands epitope coverage. OmniFlic is an engineered rat with a fixed light chain for development of bispecific, fully human antibodies.
The three platforms use patented technology, have broad freedom to operate and deliver fully human antibodies with high affinity, specificity, expression, solubility and stability. Ligand acquired the OmniAb technology through its acquisition of OMT, Inc. in early 2016.