Lexicon Genetics Delivers Thirteen Novel Antigens To Abgenix For Antibody Development
Lexicon Genetics Incorporated (Nasdaq: LEXG) and Abgenix, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABGX) announced today that Lexicon has delivered to Abgenix, thirteen (13) human antigens for antibody development as part of the companies’ drug discovery alliance. This marks the first of many antigens to be delivered to Abgenix for the discovery of antibody-based drugs.
A joint steering committee, consisting of scientists from both Lexicon and Abgenix, selected the thirteen (13) novel human antigens from Lexicon’s proprietary portfolio of novel, full-length human genes. Lexicon is utilizing its proprietary knockout technology to determine the biological function of these genes to help determine the medical relevance of the drug targets they encode. Simultaneously, Abgenix is applying its XenoMouse™ technology to develop fully human antibodies directed at each of these drug targets. The union of these powerful technologies could result in the discovery and commercialization of multiple novel drugs for many diseases. It also has the potential to create a broad intellectual property package that covers antibody-based drugs, and broadly covers the use of the targeted receptors for developing therapeutic agents.
"This milestone demonstrates the value of our portfolio of novel human genes and the promise of our patented approach to drug target validation," said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Lexicon. "We believe Lexicon’s success at identifying the best targets and Abgenix’s ability to rapidly generate fully human monoclonal antibodies should provide both companies with numerous product opportunities as we move forward in this highly productive alliance."
"We believe that the combination of Lexicon’s drug target validation technology with Abgenix’s XenoMouse antibody technology provides synergies that will accelerate the discovery and development of promising antibody drug candidates," said R. Scott Greer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abgenix. "The selection and delivery of these antigens is an important confirmation of the unique strengths of our alliance."
In July 2000, Lexicon and Abgenix established this alliance to discover novel antibody drugs using targets derived from Lexicon’s proprietary portfolio of full-length human genes. Under the alliance agreement, Lexicon and Abgenix will each have the right to obtain exclusive commercialization rights, including sublicensing rights, for an equal number of qualifying antibodies. Each company will receive milestone payments and royalties on sales of antibody drugs from the collaboration that are commercialized by the other party or a third party sublicensee.
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