Amrad in partnership with US firm Medarex

Amrad and US monoclonal antibody company Medarex have signed a licensing partnership for the R&D of fully humanised monoclonal antibodies against Amrad's asthma target interleukin-13 receptor alpha.

The license is the first granted to an Australian company to use Medarex's proprietary UltiMAb Human Antibody Development System, although another company, Prima BioMed subsidiary OncoMab, also recently entered into a collaborative partnership with Medarex.

Amrad managing director Dr Sandra Webb said the company had previously been accessing the Medarex antibody technology through a materials transfer agreement, but the project had got to the point of requiring a license.

Under the terms of the agreement, Amrad will use the UltiMAb system to generate antibodies against the target, which was initially discovered through the CRC for Cellular Growth Factors. The receptor is believed to play a central role in the development of human asthma.

In return, Medarex will get license fees, milestone payments and royalties on any commercial product that reaches the market.

"The development of antagonists to the interleukin-13 receptor for the treatment of asthma is one of our priority projects," said Webb. The project was highlighted earlier this year when Amrad announced its reprioritised flagship R&D programs. But Webb noted that it was still in the pre-clinical stage of development.

"I think Medarex are very pleased to think we've gone this far [with their technology]," Webb said.

Last week Amrad announced that Swiss-US drug giant Serono would develop and commercialise its emfilermin compound.