Chiron and Xoma in MAb deal

US biotechnology firm Chiron Corp and the UK's Xoma have announced a worldwide, exclusive, multi-product collaborative agreement for the development and commercialization of antibody products for the treatment of cancer. Under the terms of the deal, the companies will jointly research, develop and commercialize multiple antibody product candidates.

"This agreement represents an important milestone in the growth of Chiron's oncology franchise," said Craig Wheeler, president of Chiron BioPharmaceuticals. "Our research engine has successfully identified a number of potential targets, and we believe that Xoma is a great partner for helping us to generate antibodies against those targets and accelerate advancing them through the development process," he added.

"Our new collaboration with Chiron represents significant growth in our product pipeline in the cancer arena and also demonstrates the value of the work Xoma has done in building multiple capabilities and experience in biopharmaceutical development, especially in the monoclonal antibody field," said John Castello, Xoma's chief executive.