Spirogen, Genentech Partner on Anti-Cancer Therapies

Spirogen Ltd. a London, U.K. biotechnology company, announced a multi-year research collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, a Roche Group company, to discover and develop antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) as potential anti-cancer agents.

The collaboration will make use of Spirogen’s pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) drugs,  a group of natural antibiotics, and associated linking technology. Under the agreement, Spirogen will synthesize and manufacture drug reagents, while Genentech will use Spirogen’s drug reagents to generate ADCs and evaluate their therapeutic potential. Genentech will have an exclusive license to fully develop and commercialize licensed products that contain these ADCs.

Terms of the multi-year collaboration include an initial one-time license fee, development milestones on reaching pre-defined targets, and further milestones and royalties for licensed products. The amounts of those payments were not disclosed.

Photo: Horia Varlan/Flickr

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