Ono, Adimab partner to develop oncology antibody drugs

Ono Pharmaceutical and Adimab have signed a drug discovery collaboration agreement for the development of antibody drugs in the oncology segment.

Adimab will be responsible for the discovery of new therapeutic antibodies for Ono’s multiple targets. It will also create bispecific antibody product candidates.

Ono will assess and develop those candidates at the pre-clinical and clinical stages.

The company will have the option to receive exclusive rights for the global development, manufacturing and commercialisation of the candidates generated through the partnership.

Ono discovery and research senior executive officer and executive director Dr Toichi Takino stated: “We are actively working to create biologics like antibodies in order to address unmet medical needs for a wide range of diseases, including cancers.

“We are very pleased to collaborate with Adimab this time in the oncology area and expect that their multi-specific antibody engineering technologies will create potential novel bispecific antibody candidates.”

Adimab will receive an up-front payment, research and development funding, and success-based milestones from Ono on research, clinical development and regulatory progress, and tiered royalties based on net sales.

Adimab chief business officer Guy Van Meter stated: “We are very pleased to be able to partner with Ono Pharmaceuticals based on our technology in antibody discovery and bispecific antibody generation. Adimab has more than 105 partners across the world, and we’re thrilled to add Ono to our partners’ list.”