19 October 2020 - - Germany-based pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim and UK-based Oxford BioTherapeutics Ltd. are building on their partnership and are establishing a new alliance to discover additional selective targets for strategic cancer indications to deliver first-in-class treatments for cancer patients, the companies said.

Boehringer Ingelheim will use OBT's OGAP platform to identify novel target opportunities for new immunotherapies utilising their T-cell engager, cancer vaccine and oncolytic virus platforms.

This follows the initiation of the first patient dosing in a Phase 1 clinical trial of a bispecific antibody for the treatment of patients with small cell lung carcinoma and other neoplasms, where the target for the bispecific antibody was discovered during the first phase of the partnership.

In addition to the programs in the partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim, OBT's clinical assets have also been enabled through the OGAP discovery platform.

Selecting the right target is fundamental for the successful development of a truly first-in-class oncology product.

OBT's platforms are designed to discover novel therapeutic targets and engineer antibodies to those targets, including CAR-T, other T-cell and NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity therapeutics to best address difficult-to-treat cancers.

A major differentiator between OBTs discovery platform and other approaches is the retention of the link between individual patient samples through to the design of therapeutic antibodies and diagnostic patient selection tools, increasing the overall successful transition into clinical development.

Financial terms of the expanded agreement are not being disclosed. Under the terms of the agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim is responsible for the development and commercialization of antibody product candidates that interact with the novel targets identified by OGAP.

OBT will receive development and regulatory milestone payments and royalties on any future product sales.

To date, Boehringer Ingelheim has exercised two options under the first agreement and has selected two therapeutic candidates for further development.