YM BioSciences has presented the first results of a collaborative program between the company and the National Research Council of Canada’s Biotechnology Research Institute (NRC-BRI).
Utilising YM’s IntelliMab technology, the program is designed to generate antibodies that target cell surface receptors associated with cancer, optimised to produce efficacy with reduced toxicities.
The first successfully designed and delivered products from the collaboration are a number of antibodies that bind to HER2/neu-over-expressing breast cancer cells, while minimally binding to HER2 on normal cardiac cells. The lead candidate antibody for conjugation is in the final stages of selection from that number.
The collaborative program is a multi-target, parallel-discovery research project funded by YM and NRC-BRI to develop YM’s IntelliMab technology, a platform for generating new therapeutic antibodies that are designed to be effective and safer than the current generation of antibodies. Collateral toxicity is a challenge for antibodies that indiscriminately target receptor in normal tissues as well as in the intended cancer cells, said the company.
Furthermore, these antibodies are expected to be ideal candidates for delivering potent toxins to cancer cells. Depending on the cancer target selected, IntelliMab antibodies will be developed as naked antibodies and/or antibody conjugates.
All intellectual property resulting from this collaboration will be owned jointly and commercial rights for drug candidates will be retained by YM. The costs associated with the drug discovery collaboration with NRC-BRI are not anticipated to be material to the company.