MacroGenics' DART technology for generating bi‐specific antibodies has attracted a great deal of interest from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In the past couple of years the company has forged alliances with Boehringer Ingelheim, Green Cross (Korea), Pfizer Inc. and Servier. The latest deal brings Servier back to the table.

The French company has just entered an option agreement with MacroGenics for the development and commercialization of Dual‐Affinity Re‐Targeting (DART) products directed at three undisclosed tumor targets.

"The new deal expands upon a very good relationship we first established with Servier last December when they signed an option agreement for our MGA271 Fc antibody targeting B7-H3, an antigen that is expressed in a number of solid tumors," Scott Koenig, president and CEO of MacroGenics told BioWorld Today.

It also substantially expands the use of DART in a configuration that targets T-cells against various tumor targets, he added.

Similar to the first deal with Servier, MacroGenics will receive a $20 million up-front payment, and it retains full development and commercialization rights to the three preclinical DART programs in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea and India, while Servier has the option to obtain an exclusive license covering the rest of the world for each of the programs.

Ahead of Servier's potential option, both companies will fund and conduct specified research and development activities. For one of the research programs, Servier can exercise its option prior to investigational new drug application submission, and for each of the other two programs the option is available upon completion of an initial Phase I trial.

"The economics of this arrangement is very attractive for us because it provides a significant amount of non-dilutive capital not only to help us advance these programs into the clinic but also allows the company to participate in the commercialization of the compounds," Koenig added.

If Servier exercises all of its options, MacroGenics would be in line to receive an additional $80 million in option exercise fees and preclinical milestones. The company could also receive up to an additional $1 billion in clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments for the three programs. MacroGenics may also receive tiered, double‐digit royalties on future net sales.

The deal adds to MacroGenics' collaborative work on its antibody platforms. In October 2010 the company signed a $2.2 billion deal with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, in which it received research and development funding of $60 million to use its DART platform to generate bi-specific antibodies against Boehringer's targets.

In the same month, MacroGenics also announced a global research collaboration and license agreement with Pfizer Inc. to discover, develop and commercialize DART antibodies directed at undisclosed cancer targets. The value of the deal was not disclosed. (See BioWorld Today, Dec. 1, 2011.)

The research and development program on the first deal with Servier is proceeding well, according to Koenig. MGA271 is currently being tested in an open-label, multi-dose, single-arm, dose-escalation Phase I study in patients with refractory B7-H3-expressing neoplasms. The trial employs a companion diagnostic for B7-H3, which will enable prospective screening of patients for expression of the target antigen. Enrollment of the first dosing cohort has been completed.

If Servier continues with the program at the end of Phase I, it will share forward development costs 50:50 with MacroGenics and pay a further $40 million in an option exercise fee and for clinical milestones.