Orion Corporation and Abilita Therapeutics have entered into a research collaboration and option to license agreement to develop innovative antibody therapeutics in the areas of oncology and pain.
Under the terms of the agreement, Orion gains access to Abilita’s proprietary Enabled Membrane Protein (EMP) technology for the discovery of novel antibody therapeutics to challenging GPCR (G protein coupled receptors) and ion channel targets. The collaboration includes an option to license an antibody discovery program in Abilita’s preclinical pipeline with the potential for expansion into two additional programs in the future. Orion will be responsible for the selection of additional targets, funding of the co-research activities, and will be solely responsible for the development and commercialisation of up to three novel antibodies.
Abilita is eligible to receive upfront payments as well as development and sales milestone payments for each discovery program. Abilita is also entitled to receive royalties on commercial sales generated from the three antibody programs.
“We are looking forward to this exciting collaboration with Abilita. Orion is dedicated to improve the lives of the patients through innovative R&D and gaining access to Abilita’s proprietary Enabled Membrane Protein (EMP™) technology provides us new opportunities on our path to develop novel therapies,” said Outi Vaarala, Senior Vice President, Innovative Medicines and Research & Development at Orion.
“This collaboration combines Abilita’s strength in discovering breakthrough antibody therapeutics for challenging membrane protein targets with Orion’s proven expertise in oncology and pain, clinical development, and commercialisation,” said Mauro Mileni, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Abilita Therapeutics. “We are excited to leverage our EMP™ platform, the most advanced directed evolution approach, to unlock targets to generate high-value therapeutics. The partnership with Orion allows us to accelerate promising therapeutics into the clinic as part of our broader plan to advance our pipeline.”
