Biopharmaceutical company Xencor, Inc. announced that it has entered a collaboration agreement with Novo Nordisk to discover new drug candidates by combining Xencor XmAb technologies. The research and development deal has the potential to bring in $175 million for Xencor.
Both companies will use the bispecific technology to build molecular formats that can target and modulate immune functions. In addition to contributing its technology, Xencor will also provide expertise on biologics and immune system function. Novo Nordisk will bring its proprietary technology.
“This collaboration marks the first time we have used our new XmAb bispecifics technology, which consists of stable and easily expressed heterodimeric Fc domains that allow us to build robust molecules in a variety of formats that preserve many beneficial features of antibodies,” said Bassil Dahiyat, Xencor chief executive officer and president. “The combination of our bispecific Fc domains with our unique FcRIIb targeting technology allows us to create novel molecular structures and to explore a range of functional properties during discovery.”
