Atreca, Inc. (Atreca) (NASDAQ: BCEL), a clinical-stage
biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics
generated through a unique discovery platform based on
interrogation of the active human immune response, and Xencor, Inc.
(NASDAQ: XNCR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
developing engineered antibodies and cytokines for the treatment of
cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announced, as part of their
existing strategic collaboration, they have mutually selected the
first program combining an Atreca-discovered antibody with Xencor’s
XmAb® bispecific Fc domain and a cytotoxic T-cell binding domain
(CD3).
Under the terms of their 2020 collaboration, Atreca generates
novel, tumor-binding antibodies from the immune responses of cancer
patients and identifies the antibodies’ targets. Xencor then
engineers Atreca’s antibodies into T-cell engaging bispecific
antibodies that bind to and activate the CD3 co-receptor on T
cells, and characterizes these novel XmAb bispecific antibodies to
identify candidates for further development. The program announced
today is the first of up to two joint programs that can be mutually
selected for further development and commercialization, with each
partner sharing 50% of costs and profits. Atreca will lead clinical
development, regulatory and commercialization activities for this
program, and the second potential joint program would be advanced
by Xencor. In addition, the agreement allows for each partner to
pursue up to two programs arising out of the collaboration
independently.
The joint program announced today is based on APN-346958, an
Atreca-discovered antibody. APN-346958 targets a novel RNA-binding
protein and is tumor-reactive in at least 50% of samples for six
tumor types evaluated, including: colorectal, thyroid, head and
neck, urothelial, melanoma and brain cancer. In preclinical
studies, the XmAb bispecific antibodies engineered against
APN-346958’s target have demonstrated potent anti-tumor activity.
Atreca and Xencor expect to name a candidate from the program later
this year, and Atreca targets an investigational new drug (IND)
submission by early 2025.
“The advancement of this program into joint development is a key
milestone in our collaboration with Xencor,” said Stephen Gould,
Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Atreca. “We continue to believe
that our respective approaches have the potential to be highly
complementary, given the abundance of novel antibody-target pairs
generated by Atreca’s discovery platform and the plug-and-play
nature of Xencor’s XmAb bispecific antibody platform. We are
excited to continue working with Xencor to advance this program and
generate additional programs combining Atreca antibodies and Xencor
CD3 bispecific engineering.”
“We are using our modular protein engineering platforms to
create a new generation of XmAb bispecific antibodies that can act
directly and selectively against solid tumors with cytotoxic T cell
engagement,” said John Desjarlais, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and
Chief Scientific Officer at Xencor. “Today’s announcement speaks to
the productivity of our ongoing collaboration with Atreca, and we
look forward to evaluating additional molecules engineered with
antibodies presented by Atreca’s unique and differentiated
discovery platform.”
About Atreca, Inc.
Atreca is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel
antibody-based immunotherapeutics generated by its differentiated
discovery platform. Atreca's platform allows access to an
unexplored landscape in oncology through the identification of
unique antibody-target pairs generated by the human immune system
during an active immune response against tumors. These antibodies
provide the basis for first-in-class therapeutic candidates, such
as our lead product candidate ATRC-101, our pipeline of lead-stage
oncology programs, and MAM01/ATRC-501, a clinical candidate
licensed to the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute
for the prevention of malaria. A Phase 1b study evaluating ATRC-101
in multiple solid tumor cancers is currently enrolling patients.
For more information on Atreca, please visit www.atreca.com.
About Xencor, Inc.
Xencor is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing
engineered antibodies and cytokines for the treatment of patients
with cancer and autoimmune diseases. More than 20 candidates
engineered with Xencor's XmAb® technology are in clinical
development, and three XmAb medicines are marketed by partners.
Xencor's XmAb engineering technology enables small changes to a
protein's structure that result in new mechanisms of therapeutic
action. For more information, please visit www.xencor.com.
Atreca Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. This press release contains forward-looking statements
regarding our strategy and future plans, including statements
regarding the development of ATRC-101, MAM01/ATRC-501, and our
earlier stage programs, including our clinical and regulatory plans
and the timing thereof, the strategic collaboration with Xencor to
engineer Atreca’s novel, tumor-binding antibodies into T-cell
engaging bispecific antibodies that bind to and activate the CD3
co-receptor on T cells, including our share of costs and profits
from the collaboration, the potential for our approach to be highly
complementary with Xencor’s approach, the development and
commercialization of our joint program with Xencor, the potential
for two joint programs with Xencor, the plan for us to lead
clinical development, regulatory and commercialization activities
for the first joint program and Xencor to advance the second
potential joint program, our expectation to name a candidate from
the first program with Xencor later in 2022 and target IND
submission by early 2025, the plan to continue working with Xencor
to advance the joint program and generate additional programs
combining Atreca antibodies and Xencor CD3 bispecific engineering,
and the potential therapeutic benefits and applications of ATRC-101
and other product candidates from our discovery platform based on
interrogation of the active human immune response. These
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements about our plans, objectives, representations and
contentions and are not historical facts and typically are
identified by use of terms such as “believe,” “will,” "continue,"
“potential,” “expect,” “advance” and similar words, although some
forward-looking statements are expressed differently. Our actual
results may differ materially from those indicated in these
forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties related
to the initiation, timing, progress and results of our research and
development programs, preclinical studies, clinical trials,
regulatory submissions, and other matters that are described in our
most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and
available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, including the risk
factors set forth therein. Investors are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak
only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation
to update any forward-looking statement in this press release,
except as required by law.
Xencor Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may
constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of
applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements include
statements that are not purely statements of historical fact, and
can generally be identified by the use of words such as
"potential," "can," "will," "plan," "may," "could," "would,"
"expect," "anticipate," "seek," "look forward," "believe,"
"committed," "investigational," and similar terms, or by express or
implied discussions relating to statements regarding future
development programs, IND submissions, the quotations from Xencor's
senior vice president and chief scientific officer, and other
statements that are not purely statements of historical fact. Such
statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs,
expectations, and assumptions of the management of Xencor and are
subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause actual results, performance or
achievements and the timing of events to be materially different
from those implied by such statements, and therefore these
statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance
or results. Such risks include, without limitation, the risks
associated with the process of discovering, developing,
manufacturing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective
for use as human therapeutics and other risks, including the
ability of publicly disclosed preliminary clinical trial data to
support continued clinical development and regulatory approval for
specific treatments, in each case as described in Xencor's public
securities filings. For a discussion of these and other factors,
please refer to Xencor's annual report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2021 as well as Xencor's subsequent filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date hereof. This caution is made under the
safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995, as amended to date. All forward-looking statements are
qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and Xencor
undertakes no obligation to revise or update this press release to
reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as
required by law.
Contacts
Atreca, Inc.Herb CrossChief Financial Officerinfo@atreca.com
Investors:Alex Gray, 650-779-9251agray@atreca.com
Media:Julia Fuller, 858-692-2001julia@fordhutmanmedia.com
Xencor Investor Contact:Charles Lilescliles@xencor.com
626-737-8118
Xencor Media Contact:Jason I. SparkCanale
Communicationsjason@canalecomm.com 619-849-6005
Atreca (NASDAQ:BCEL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Atreca (NASDAQ:BCEL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024