19 September 2016, Munich – Ascenion GmbH, the technology transfer partner of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), has mediated an agreement with Heidelberg Pharma, a subsidiary of WILEX AG. It provides the company with an exclusive option to a set of humanized anti-BCMA antibodies generated at the MDC. Heidelberg Pharma aims to use them in combination with its proprietary ATAC (Antibody Targeted Amanitin Conjugates) technology to develop a novel treatment for multiple myeloma, the third most common haematological cancer.
BCMA is a surface protein that is universally and abundantly expressed on malignant plasma cells, but not on other human tissues. This makes it an attractive target for new, highly-specific myeloma therapies. Over the past few years, MDC researchers have generated, validated and humanized a set of antibodies with outstanding specificity for BCMA. Ascenion has worked closely with the scientists, right from the beginning, securing optimal patent protection for their work and marketing it to potential partners from industry. Following a presentation to Heidelberg Pharma at an international partnering conference, a pilot collaboration was agreed.
The company employed its ATAC technology to couple the MDC antibodies to amanitin, a highly effective toxin that is found in certain mushrooms including the death cap. The resulting antibody–drug conjugates combine the specificity of the MDC antibodies with the potency of amanitin. Due to amanitin’s unique mode of action, the conjugates have strong potential to overcome tumour resistance mechanisms and to eliminate proliferating as well as resting tumour cells. The conjugates were tested in vitro and in vivo, and the most promising one was selected for further development (HDP-101). It led to complete tumour remission in relevant model systems of myeloma, and results from toxicity studies suggest a very favourable therapeutic window.
’I am very pleased with this straightforward and productive collaboration,’ says Dr Michael Karle, Technology Manager at Ascenion. ‘Heidelberg Pharma is an ideal match for the MDC. With their technology and dedicated development expertise, they are perfectly set to transform the outcome of this research project into tangible benefits for patients.’
Prof. Dr Martin Lohse, Chair of the Board and Scientific Director of the MDC, is also delighted that the agreement with Heidelberg Pharma could be successfully negotiated together with Ascenion: ‘It will benefit patients enormously should the validity of Heidelberg Pharma’s approach be confirmed in clinical practice. Despite huge advances, multiple myeloma is currently still incurable.’
Heidelberg Pharma is currently preparing formal preclinical and clinical studies with HDP-101, which will be the company’s first clinical candidate based on the ATAC technology. If the project is successful, the MDC and the inventors will participate to a certain extent in potential returns from future commercialization.
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Contact:
Anja Kroke
T: +49 89 318814-30
E: kroke(at)ascenion(dot)de
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About Ascenion
Ascenion GmbH is an IP asset management company with particular expertise in the life sciences. Ascenion advises and supports public research institutions with regard to the protection and exploitation of their intellectual property (patents, know-how, materials), and initiates and mediates license agreements between research institutions and industry. The company places particular emphasis on coaching company founders and on active equity management. Ascenion was founded in 2001 as a 100% subsidiary of the LifeScience Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Research and is the technology transfer partner of 19 research institutes in the Helmholtz and Leibniz Associations, as well as of the Charité, the Hannover Medical School and the research institute TWINCORE. Ascenion currently markets over 750 technologies on behalf of these institutes, and closes an average of about 80 revenue-generating agreements between research and industry per year. The team has also coached numerous spin-offs through their foundation and early growth and Ascenion holds equity in 22 of these companies. Ascenion’s headquarters are in Munich, with further offices in Berlin, Braunschweig, Hamburg, Hanover and Neuherberg.
Further information at www.ascenion.de
About the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine
The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association was founded in January 1992 on the recommendation of the German Council of Science and Humanities (‘Wissenschaftsrat’) with the goal of linking basic science to clinical research. It is named after Max Delbrück, a physicist, biologist and Nobel Prize winner. Currently, the institute employs more than 1,600 people from nearly 60 countries; over 1,300 of those are directly involved in research. The MDC’s annual budget is over EUR 80 million, along with substantial third-party funding obtained by individual scientific groups. As is the case with all Helmholtz institutes, the MDC receives 90% of its funding from the federal government and 10% from Berlin, the state where it resides.
