Avanir Licenses Antibody to Peregrine

An antibody produced for a cancer target as the result of an agreement between Avanir Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA, USA) and Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Tustin, CA, USA) has now been licensed to Peregrine by Avanir. Avanir developed the antibody under a previous research agreement with Peregrine that was designed to develop monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of solid tumor cancers.

Avanir has received a license fee and may receive a milestone payment and royalty on sales upon successful development and commercialization. The antibody was developed using a fully human constant region identified and isolated from Avanir's Xenerex technology. The antibody has been transferred to Peregrin for preclinical development. Avenir's Xenerex technology can generate fully human antibodies to target antigens through the engraftment of human immune system cells into mice lacking a native immune system. The process utilizes serum from donors that produces protective antibodies to a disease, increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome.

Peregrine is focused on the development of cancer treatments based on three targeting technologies: tumor necrosis therapy (TNT), vasopermeation enhancement agents (VEA), and vascular targeting agents (VTA). These target cell structures and cell types common among solid tumor cancers.