Kymab and EpimAb Biotherapeutics enter bispecific antibody cross-licensing deal

The UK’s Kymab and privately-held, China-based biopharma company EpimAb Biotherapeutics today announced a cross-licensing and development agreement to develop bispecific therapeutic antibodies against multiple targets.

The companies will focus their efforts on immuno-oncology and will combine EpimAb’s proprietary Fabs-In-Tandem Immunoglobulin (FIT-Ig) platform to generate multiple bispecific antibodies combined with antibodies sourced from Kymab’s proprietary Kymouse platform. Kymab will have the development and commercialization rights to these bispecifics in all geographical regions outside of China, and, under the terms of the cross license agreement, EpimAb will have the rights for the China market. Each party is eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties for development programs pursued by the other party. Further financial terms of the accord were not disclosed.

“Today’s agreement with Kymab represents our first license agreement outside of China and we are looking forward to combining our complementary antibody technologies to create novel treatments for severe human diseases,” said Dr Chengbin Wu, chief executive and founder of EpimAb. “Kymab’s expertise in generating world class antibodies specifically in the immuno-oncology area is a perfect strategic fit for EpimAb. The candidates from this collaboration will significantly strengthen EpimAb’s proprietary pipeline with highly innovative molecules,” he added.