The University of Tennessee: Licensing Deal Finalized for Cancer-Targeting Antibodies

A little over six months ago, IN-PART matched a global life science company to a novel cancer-targeting antibody developed by scientists at the University of Tennessee. After a series of discussions and negotiations, a licensing agreement was recently finalized.

Stefan Schweizer, Licensing Associate at the University of Tennessee, shared with us the story of how the collaboration developed:

“For a monoclonal antibody related to cancer, IN-PART connected us with a major supplier of biological products for the research community. The initial introduction led to licensing discussions, and earlier this year we signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement that makes the antibody available as a non-clinical research tool.

“As with the Huntington’s Disease technology that we are now co-developing with a global biopharma company, I think we wouldn’t have reached the European corporate partner without IN-PART building the bridge first.”

Academics at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center targeted a newly identified transmembrane mucin (MUC13) that is highly overexpressed in pancreatic, colorectal, stomach and ovarian cancers.

The researchers showed that MUC13 can be used as a biomarker for early detection of aggressive cancers, and developed a novel set of highly specific mouse monoclonal and humanized recombinant antibodies that target MUC13, which can be delivered as antibody-drug conjugates or attached to drug-containing nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery.

Read the case study of the collaboration between The University of Tennessee and a global biopharmaceutical company who are working to co-develop a novel gene therapy for Huntington’s Disease.

Copyrights reserved unless otherwise agreed – IN-PART Publishing Ltd., 2018

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