Adimab extends partnerships with Merck and Lilly

Adimab has extended its research collaborations with Merck and Lilly, with the latest move hoping to discover and optimise fully human antibody candidates across multiple disease areas.

In the work, scientists will identify therapeutic antibody candidates to reach a number of targets set by Merck over a period of three years.

Adimab's research agreement with Lilly will include the discovery and optimisation of several bispecific antibodies in a bid to reach molecular objectives established by the firm.

As a result of the deal, Adimab will receive upfront payments and can qualify to receive preclinical and clinical development milestone instalments, in addition to royalties relating to product sales.

The company has established an integrated antibody discovery and optimisation platform, providing unprecedented speed from antigen to purified, full-length human Immunoglobulin (IgG).

It delivers diverse panels of therapeutically relevant antibodies, capable of meeting aggressive standards for affinity, epitope coverage, species cross-reactivity and developability.

The firm has established collaborations with a number of pharma companies over the last three years, such as Merck, Roche, Novartis, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Biogen Idec, Novo Nordisk, Gilead and Kyowa Hakko Kirin.

Commenting on the collaboration, Deborah A. Law, vice president of biologics discovery at Merck Research Laboratories, said: "At Merck, we look at a lot of technologies and have been impressed with Adimab's output in our previous collaboration.

"From a strategic perspective we wanted to maintain access to their technology."

Guy Van Meter, vice president of business development at Adimab, commented that the company is seeing "a lot of interest" in its bispecific platform.

"We continue to build on our leadership position in the antibody space, and I am pleased with the validation that these transactions provide for our bispecific antibody discovery and optimization capabilities," he added.

Tillman Gerngross, Adimab's chief executive and co-founder also commented on the company's progress, claiming that it is "always pleased" when existing partners expand relationships.

"The antibody discovery arena has become very competitive and nothing is more validating than existing partners coming back for broader access to our platform," he continued.

Posted by Fiona Griffiths