Wyeth licenses expression system from XOMA
worldwide license for a technology used to make biologic drugs such
as antibodies in bacteria instead of mammalian cells.
Bacterial fermentation systems tend to be easier to work with and cheaper to operate than mammalian cell culture.
XOMA's Bacterial Cell Expression (BCE) technology is used to discover and screen, as well as develop and manufacture, recombinant proteins and antibodies for commercial purposes. BCE is also a key technology used in multiple systems for high-throughput screening of antibody domains. Expression of antibodies by phage display technology, for example, depends on the expression and secretion of antibody domains from bacteria as properly folded, functional proteins.
technology XOMA scientists were the first to demonstrate the secretion of antibody domains directly from the bacterial cells as fully functional, properly folded molecules. XOMA has received ten US patents to date relating to aspects of its BCE system, including six patents that broadly cover the secretion of immunoglobulins from bacteria, including antibody fragments such as Fab and single-chain antibodies. Corresponding overseas patents have also been granted.
Under the agreement, Wyeth receives a license to use XOMA's technology for the development and production of recombinant proteins. Details of the initial payment and future contingent payments to XOMA were not disclosed.
Currently, there are two antibody products in late-stage clinical testing that are manufactured using XOMA's BCE system. These are Celltech's Cimzia (certolizumab pegol or CDP-870) an anti-TNF alpha antibody fragment in development for rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease, and Genentech Lucentis (ranibizumab) antibody fragment to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), in trial to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a major cause of blindness.
