CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. Seeks to One-Up Eli Lilly and Company, Amgen Cancer Drugs

There are lots of little biotech companies with dreams of beating the big boys, and one of those classic storylines is playing out in South San Francisco at CytomX Therapeutics. CytomX has fixed its attention on making an engineered antibody drug (which it calls a Probody) that is more precisely targeted to cancer cells, and packs more wallop, than Eli Lilly’s cetuximab (Erbitux) and Amgen’s panitumumab (Vectibix). This program is still in early development, with a goal of filing regulatory paperwork for clinical trials by the end of 2013, but CytomX has hit enough of its technical milestones to start talking publicly about this bold new initiative, says CEO Sean McCarthy.