A-CUBE Inc. and Wakunaga Pharmaceutical Company Announce Agreement on a Monoclonal Therapeutic Antibody

BELMONT, Calif., Dec. 7, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A-CUBE Inc. ("A-CUBE") today announced that it has signed a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) and Exclusive Option Agreement for two groups of therapeutic monoclonals to the oncogene c-MET for treating cancer with Wakunaga Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. ("WAKUNAGA") of Osaka, Japan. Under the agreement, A-CUBE will supply lead candidate monoclonal antibodies that were predicted by Rational In Silico Algorithm on c-MET to WAKUNAGA. WAKUNAGA will develop and validate animal models of various cancers using standard-of-care treatments, as well as develop and validate bioanalytical assays. At this point, the in vivo therapeutic potential of the two sets of monoclonals will be evaluated by WAKUNAGA. WAKUNAGA has the exclusive rights to conduct this evaluation in cancer models, and to negotiate for, and enter into exclusive collaborative research agreement with A-CUBE during a six month period following the experimental evaluation. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.