Caris Life Sciences and Xencor Enter Target Discovery Collaboration and License Agreement for Novel XmAb® Bispecific Antibodies

Rhea-AI Summary

On August 2, 2022, Caris Life Sciences and Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ: XNCR) announced a strategic agreement to develop XmAb® bispecific antibodies targeting novel cancer treatment options. Caris will utilize its proprietary discovery platform to identify these targets, while Xencor will leverage its XmAb engineering technology. Xencor will receive exclusive options to commercialize products related to three targets, alongside a payment of up to $120 million in milestones and royalties. This collaboration aims to address the need for new therapeutic targets in oncology.

Positive

• Collaboration with Caris Life Sciences to develop innovative cancer therapies.
• Potential for up to $120 million in milestone payments and royalties.
• Use of advanced platforms for target discovery and antibody development.

Negative

• None.

IRVING, Texas and MONROVIA, Calif., Aug. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Caris Life Sciences^®(Caris), the leading molecular science and technology company actively developing and delivering innovative solutions to revolutionize health care, and Xencor, Inc. (NASDAQ: XNCR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered antibodies and cytokines for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, announced today a multi-year strategic option and license agreement to research, develop and commercialize XmAb^® bispecific antibodies directed against novel targets for the treatment of patients with cancer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Caris will apply its proprietary end-to-end discovery platform, Caris Discovery, to identify novel targets for bispecific antibody drug candidates. Caris Discovery combines insights generated from molecular interrogation of primary patient tissues using ADAPT™, the company's exclusive aptamer-based proteomic profiling platform; a robust validation pipeline; and CODEai™, the company's proprietary real-world data platform that integrates Caris' extensive catalog of molecular data with cancer treatment information. This results in a highly differentiated, orthogonal multi-omics method for target-based discovery.

"There is a critical need to address the paucity of novel therapeutic targets in oncology," said David Spetzler, M.S., Ph.D., MBA, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Caris Life Sciences. "Consequently, we have launched a comprehensive platform agnostic to therapeutic modality to discover and validate novel cancer targets. Our collaboration with Xencor will combine Caris' proprietary, multi-omics target discovery engine and Xencor's XmAb engineering platform to design and manufacture investigational bispecific antibodies to develop first-in-class therapies for patients with cancer."

"Our collaboration with Caris leverages the plug-and-play nature of the XmAb platform, combining Xencor's extensive set of protein engineering tools and capabilities with Caris' innovation in precision oncology," said John Desjarlais, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Xencor. "Caris has built a unique target discovery platform, coupled with deep genomics information, that will enhance our ability to create and evaluate a new generation of XmAb bispecific and multi-specific antibodies, including T cell engagers, NK cell engagers and other modalities."

As part of the agreement, Xencor will receive exclusive options to research, develop and commercialize products directed to up to three targets. Caris will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible to receive up to approximately $120 million in license fees, discovery, development, regulatory and sales-based milestones, in addition to royalty payments on net sales of each product commercialized by Xencor and future rights for molecular profiling and companion diagnostics for drug candidates developed under the collaboration.

XmAb^® is a registered trademark of Xencor, Inc.

About Caris Life Sciences
Caris Life Sciences^® (Caris) is the leading molecular science and technology company actively developing and delivering innovative solutions to revolutionize healthcare and improve patient outcomes. Through comprehensive molecular profiling (Whole Exome and Whole Transcriptome Sequencing) and the application of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms, Caris has created the large-scale clinico-genomic database and cognitive computing needed to analyze and unravel the molecular complexity of disease. This information provides an unmatched resource and the ideal path forward to conduct the basic, fundamental research to accelerate discovery for detection, diagnosis, monitoring, therapy selection and drug development to improve the human condition.

With a primary focus on cancer, Caris' suite of market-leading molecular profiling offerings assesses DNA, RNA and proteins to reveal a molecular blueprint that helps patients, physicians and researchers better detect, diagnose and treat patients. Caris' latest advancement is a blood-based, circulating nucleic acids sequencing (cNAS) assay that combines comprehensive molecular analysis (Whole Exome and Whole Transcriptome Sequencing from blood) and serial monitoring – making it the most powerful liquid biopsy assay ever developed.

Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris has offices in Phoenix, New York, Denver, Tokyo, Japan and Basel, Switzerland. Caris provides services throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and other international markets. To learn more, please visit CarisLifeSciences.com or follow us on Twitter (@CarisLS).

About Caris Discovery
Caris Discovery is an innovative end-to-end discovery platform that combines insights generated from molecular interrogation of primary patient tissues using ADAPT™, the company's exclusive aptamer-based proteomic profiling platform, and CODEai™, the company's proprietary real-world data platform that integrates Caris' extensive catalog of molecular data with cancer treatment information. This results in a fully integrated and proprietary set of complementary approaches for identification of novel targets agnostic to treatment modality and validation of existing targets. The ADAPT™ Biotargeting System uses a cancer specific library of synthetically manufactured molecules (aptamers) that bind to a wide range of biological targets and characterize complex biological systems in their native state, enabling them to profile biological samples at a systems-wide scale. The use of aptamer libraries enriched for cancer-specific proteins allows the downstream identification of novel targets directly from patient tissue. The CODEai™ state-of-the-art informatics system and big data architecture provides an unmatched resource for developing a better understanding of molecular mechanisms of cancer.

About Xencor, Inc.
Xencor is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered antibodies and cytokines for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. More than 20 candidates engineered with Xencor's XmAb^® technology are in clinical development, and three XmAb medicines are marketed by partners. Xencor's XmAb antibody engineering technology enables small changes to a protein's structure that result in new mechanisms of therapeutic action. For more information, please visit www.xencor.com.

Xencor Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements include statements that are not purely statements of historical fact, and can generally be identified by the use of words such as "potential," "can," "will," "plan," "may," "could," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "seek," "look forward," "believe," "committed," "investigational," and similar terms, or by express or implied discussions relating to the discovery of novel targets for product candidates, the research, development or commercialization of products or product candidates, the quotations from Xencor's senior vice president and chief scientific officer and Caris Life Sciences' president and chief scientific officer, and other statements that are not purely statements of historical fact. Such statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions of the management of Xencor and are subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements and the timing of events to be materially different from those implied by such statements, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such risks include, without limitation, the risks associated with the process of discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics and other risks, including the ability of publicly disclosed preliminary clinical trial data to support continued clinical development and regulatory approval for specific treatments, in each case as described in Xencor's public securities filings. For a discussion of these and other factors, please refer to Xencor's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 as well as Xencor's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. This caution is made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended to date. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and Xencor undertakes no obligation to revise or update this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by law.

Caris Life Sciences Media Contact:
Lisa Burgner
lburgner@carisls.com
469.822.9330

Xencor Investor Contact:
Charles Liles
cliles@xencor.com

Xencor Media Contact:
Jason I. Spark
Canale Communications
jason@canalecomm.com
619.849.6005

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SOURCE Caris Life Sciences

FAQ

What is the collaboration between Caris Life Sciences and Xencor about?

The collaboration focuses on developing XmAb® bispecific antibodies for cancer treatment, utilizing Caris' discovery platform and Xencor's engineering technology.

How much could Xencor earn from the agreement with Caris Life Sciences?

Xencor could potentially earn up to $120 million in milestone payments, along with royalties on net sales of commercialized products.

What is the significance of the XmAb® platform in this agreement?

The XmAb® platform allows Xencor to engineer antibodies with new therapeutic mechanisms, enhancing the development of effective treatments.

When was the strategic agreement between Caris and Xencor announced?

The agreement was announced on August 2, 2022.