Tesaro, AnaptysBio Expand Immuno-Oncology Partnership

Oncology-focused biopharma firm Tesaro and privately-held therapeutic antibody firm AnaptysBio announced that the companies are expanding their immuno-oncology partnership and exclusive license agreement with the development of a new bispecific antibody lead targeting two unnamed immune checkpoints. 

Under the terms of the new agreement, AnaptysBio will receive an unknown sum as upfront payment from Tesaro, and Tesaro will shoulder all costs related to the development of the antibody lead. AnaptysBio will be eligible to additional milestone payments based on the achievement of specific R&D goals, as well as royalties from sales of products resulting from the collaboration. 

Sr. Mary Lynne Hedley, president and COO of Tesaro, said, “Through our collaboration with AnaptysBio, we are employing a variety of approaches, including monospecific, bispecific, and dual specific antibodies, to address some of the most validated and promising immune checkpoint targets…Our team looks forward to continued collaboration with AnaptysBio on these programs and to the presentation of data describing our anti-TIM-3 antibody candidate at the AACR conference later today in Orlando.” 

Hamza Suria, president and CEO of AnaptysBio, said that the company maintains its focus on developing antibodies for immuno-oncology, as well as other unmet medical needs. “Our strategic advantage is the ability to rapidly discover and develop therapeutic antibodies against emerging biological targets using the natural somatic hypermutation mechanism encoded within the human immune system. We are pleased to expand our collaboration with Tesaro, and we look forward to advancing multiple immuno-oncology antibodies into the clinic.” 

The companies first inked a deal in March this year to work together on developing a monospecific antibody drug lead targeted against TIM-3, LAG-3, and PD-1. The original agreement also included the development of dual reactive antibody drug leads targeting PD-1/TIM-3 and PD-1/LAG-3. The partners intend to advance the antibody candidates into clinical trials over the next 18 to 24 months.