Just five days after MacroGenics and its partner Eli Lilly were forced to suspend a clinical trial of the once-promising Type 1 diabetes drug teplizumab, the Rockville, MD-based developer bounced back with an ambitious discovery and development deal with Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim which is designed to deliver $60 million in payments over the next three years and up to $210 million in milestones for each of the 10 programs covered in the pact.
Proving yet again that antibodies make up one of the hottest fields in drug development, Boehringer wants to use MacroGenics' Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting platform (DART) to identify and advance antibodies for immunology, oncology, respiratory, cardiometabolic and infectious diseases.
"Combining MacroGenics' innovative DART-based antibody platform with our experience and capabilities in drug discovery and development has the potential to generate breakthrough medicines that will help patients with a range of diseases which cannot be adequately treated at present," said Professor Wolfgang Rettig, senior vice president corporate research of Boehringer Ingelheim.
Both companies will share responsibility for discovery and certain preclinical activities, while Boehringer Ingelheim will have sole responsibility for all the subsequent preclinical, clinical, regulatory, commercial and manufacturing activities for any DART-based product that's advanced.
- read the MacroGenics release