In January 2004, Verenium and XOMA announced that they had entered into a licensing and antibody product development agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Verenium received a license to use XOMA's antibody expression technology for developing antibody products independently and with collaborators, and an option to a license for the production of antibodies under the XOMA patents. XOMA received a license fee and potential future milestone and royalty payments. Under the terms of the development portion of the agreement, XOMA and Verenium combined their respective capabilities to discover and develop antibodies for autoimmune-related diseases. Verenium receives research funding and is entitled to receive milestones and royalties on any drugs developed under the agreement.
Verenium’s MedEv™ platform enables the optimization of key properties of candidate therapeutic or diagnostic antibody or protein through our suite of DirectEvolution® technologies. Our comprehensive and proprietary platform has proven utility in improving a variety of properties including affinity, specificity, effector functions, expression levels, stability and solubility. In addition, our Human Framework Reassembly™ platform provides rapid optimization of non-human antibodies.
XOMA’s Bacterial Cell Expression System is a flexible package of complementary technologies, materials, methods and know-how that provides many of today’s leading biotechnology companies and XOMA collaborators with the ability to produce antibodies in bacteria for use as therapeutics and medical diagnostics, as well as for drug discovery, lead optimization and research purposes. The value of XOMA’s Bacterial Cell Expression System’s ability to produce a wide variety of immunoglobulins is well recognized, as evidenced by the fact that more than 25 companies currently hold a license for expression of molecules in bacteria.
XOMA Ltd. (Nasdaq: XOMA) develops biopharmaceuticals that target cancer, immunological disorders and infectious diseases while leveraging its development and manufacturing infrastructure through partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies. For more information visit www.xoma.com.
