Cambridge Antibody Technology and XOMA cross-licence antibody technologies

UK biotechnology company Cambridge Antibody Technology and California-based XOMA have entered into a cross-licensing arrangement for antibody-related technologies.

Under the agreement CAT and its collaborators receive rights to use the XOMA antibody expression technology for developing products using CAT's phage-based antibody technology, in return for licence payments to XOMA. XOMA will receive the right to use CAT's phage antibody libraries for its target discovery and research programmes, with an option to develop antibodies into therapeutics. Should any therapeutic antibodies derived from CAT's libraries be identified and developed by XOMA, licence payments will be made by XOMA to CAT.

Peter Chambre, CAT's ceo, commented, 'Clarifying the intellectual property issues in the antibody field remains an important priority for both CAT and XOMA. As CAT progresses with its transition to a product-based biopharmaceutical company, we are pleased to have reached this cross-licensing arrangement with XOMA.'

CAT has an advanced proprietary platform technology for rapidly isolating human monoclonal antibodies using phage display systems, together with extensive phage antibody libraries, currently incorporating more than 100 billion distinct antibodies. These libraries form the basis for the Company's strategy to discover and develop a portfolio of antibody-based drugs.

Humira, the leading CAT-derived antibody, has been submitted for regulatory review by Abbott (responsible for development and marketing) following the completion of Phase III trials. Six other CAT-derived human therapeutic antibodies are at various stages of clinical trials.

XOMA develops and manufactures innovative biopharmaceuticals for disease targets that include cancer, immunological and inflammatory disorders, and infectious diseases.