Beijing Biocytogen, Biocytogen Boston Corp, announced they have reached an agreement with Xencor, Inc., for the licensing of Biocytogen's fully human antibody RenMab™/RenLite™ Mouse platform.
The RenMab™ Mouse was developed using Biocytogen's unique chromosome engineering technique. In this model, the Ig genes that encode for antibody variable domains of heavy and κ light chains are fully replaced by human corresponding Ig genes. The RenLite™ Mouse is a genetically engineered model with complete humanization in the variable region of the heavy chains, while maintaining a single human light chain. These models can be used to fast generate and screen fully human antibody hits and thus identify therapeutic candidates with high affinities, specificities, and diversities more efficiently than by using other available technology platforms.
Xencor is a leading clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Xencor and Biocytogen have collaborated on preclinical pharmacology studies, and Xencor moved forward with the new licensing agreement after Biocytogen released RenLite™'s robust validation data.
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"We are excited to begin this collaboration," said Dr. John Desjarlais, Xencor's CSO. "We anticipate the RenMab and RenLite platforms will extend our bispecific antibody discovery and look forward to working with the team at Biocytogen."
The agreement includes licenses for the RenMab™ and RenLite™ mouse platforms and Biocytogen's ongoing support of Xencor's drug development efforts to help meet the increasing global demand for effective biologic therapies.
"We are delighted that Xencor has selected the Biocytogen RenMab™/RenLite™ mice for their development of novel fully human antibody candidates," said YueLei Shen, Founder and CEO of Biocytogen. "We are highly confident that the combination of our fully-humanized mouse model and Xencor's proven expertise in drug discovery and development will provide the ideal collaboration for the Xencor's discovery of clinically-relevant antibodies."