Eureka Thera and Boehringer enter cancer antibodies research pact

US biotech firm Eureka Therapeutics and German family-owned pharma major Boehringer Ingelheim announced today that they have entered into a research agreement for the discovery of novel therapeutic antibodies in oncology.

Eureka will apply its proprietary human sequence antibody libraries and its unique technology platform to identify antibodies recognizing intracellular proteins, which represent approximately 90% of cancer-specific targets. Cancer-specific peptides that can be displayed via the MHC-complex (major histocompatibility complex) on the cell surface will be selected by Boehringer Ingelheim to develop better therapies for cancer patients, for whom treatment options are inadequate or non-existent.

Terms of the agreement

Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed, but Boehringer Ingelheim will have the option to conduct further development and commercialization of the antibodies. Under the terms of the deal, Eureka will receive an undisclosed upfront technology access fee and research funding for each program, and may receive technical success fees, option exercise fees, and other downstream payments.

"We are excited to partner with Boehringer Ingelheim, a leader in oncology research and development to develop next generation cancer immunotherapies targeting intracellular oncogenes,” said Cheng Liu, president and chief executive of Eureka Therapeutics. “Intracellular oncogenes represent 90% of cancer-specific antigens, many of which were considered “undruggable targets” until recently. This collaboration builds upon Eureka’s success in discovery and development of fully human antibodies against intracellular oncogenes. We look forward to working with Boehringer Ingelheim to advance the immuno-oncology frontier and address some of the most challenging unmet medical needs,” he added.