Pierre Fabre is partnering with immunotherapeutics startup H-Immune to generate anticancer antibody candidates using the latter’s proprietary In Vitro Immunization (IVI) technology. The collaboration will give Pierre Fabre access to the IVI platform for three different immune-oncology discovery programs. H-Immune will receive undisclosed R&D funding and potential future milestone payments.
H-Immune is a newly established spinout from the French Atomic Energy Commission. “H-Immune is developing an antibody technology platform that we are looking forward to accessing as part of our ongoing efforts to identify and develop world-class novel cancer therapeutics,” stated Laurent Audoly, Ph.D., head of R&D of Pierre Fabre Pharmaceuticals. “We believe this collaboration enhances the potential of both partners to deliver transformational therapies to patients in areas of significant unmet medical needs.”
H-Immune says it is leveraging the IVI platform to develop fully human anticancer monoclonal antibodies against any therapeutic target by taking advantage of the affinity maturation processes performed in situ by B lymphocytes. “Pierre Fabre is an ideal partner for H-Immune to help us begin to realize the full potential of our science and IVI technology, which we plan to exploit through multiple industry partnerships,” added Luc Boblet, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of H-Immune. “This collaboration is designed to catalyze and create tremendous ongoing scientific and product development synergy by leveraging each company’s strengths and assets.”
Earlier this month Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmétique acquired commercialization rights to Hill Dermaceuticals’s topical actinic keratosis therapy drug, Tolak® (fluorouracil) Cream 4%, in the U.S. and other territories, pending local authorizations. Tolak was approved by the FDA in September 2015 and launched in the U.S. in November of that year, but has not yet been approved in any other countries.
In January, Pierre Fabre and Swiss pharma PIQUR Therapeutics teamed up to develop dermatmologic formulations of the latter’s dual phosphoinositide 3-kinase/mechanistic target of rapamycin (PI3K/mTOR) inhibitor PQR309 for the potenital treamtent of skin cancers.
