Roche teams with Oxford BioTherapeutics to develop antibody cancer treatments

Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) just kicked off a multi-year partnership with Roche to uncover and develop new, cancer-fighting antibody treatments. The clinical-stage oncology firm will lean on its OGAP-Verify discovery platform to pick out promising drug targets with sharper sensitivity and specificity.

Under this deal, OBT stands to get as much as $36 million right off the bat, along with possible milestone payments that could go beyond $1 billion, plus royalties on any products that hit the market. After OBT identifies targets using OGAP-Verify, Roche will head up the validation, research, and later development work.

Christian Rohlff, OBT’s CEO, underscored how important this alliance is, calling Roche “a global leader in oncology.” He said the partnership strengthens OBT’s push for better cancer target discovery and pointed to Roche’s unique capability to integrate pharmaceutical and diagnostic expertise.

Boris L. Zaïtra, Head of Corporate Business Development at Roche, also showed excitement about this strategic partnership. He mentioned combining Roche’s expertise in launching groundbreaking treatments with OBT’s cutting-edge target discovery platform could “unlock new possibilities in cancer care.” Zaïtra added that Roche is committed to speeding up the creation of transformative therapies for patients facing difficult diagnoses.

OBT focuses on crafting advanced therapies like Bispecific Antibodies and Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs), and they’ve already got three clinical programs rolling in the U.S. and Europe. Their immuno-oncology discovery approach has yielded multiple new monoclonal and bispecific antibody candidates for various cancers.

One of OBT’s leading clinical programs—expanded in the U.S. in 2021—targets individuals with advanced or treatment-resistant solid tumors, such as gastric, bladder, ovarian, and lung cancers, particularly when certain biomarkers are overexpressed.

OBT’s development capabilities have been validated through collaborations with major players like Boehringer Ingelheim, ImmunoGen, and Zymeworks.