Tag: Merus B.V.
Company News: Merus Selects Clinical Candidate for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
Merus B.V., a biopharmaceutical company focusing on innovative human antibody therapeutics, today announced that it has selected MCLA-117 as lead candidate for clinical studies in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). MCLA-117 is a human, full-length IgG bispecific antibody, which activates the patient’s own immune system by simultaneously binding to the CLEC12A molecule expressed by AML tumor cells and the CD3 molecule expressed by T cells. MCLA-117-mediated co-engagement of CLEC12A and CD3 results in the potent killing of cancerous AML cells and their malignant precursors. Merus intends to start phase I clinical trials with MCLA-117 in 2014.
The antibody is based on Merus’ Biclonics™ ENGAGE platform. Human bispecific antibodies from this platform can be manufactured and administered like conventional, full-length IgG molecules, thereby providing for high yield, good stability and a long serum half life. In addition, bispecific antibodies from the Biclonics™ ENGAGE platform have a modified constant region to abrogate unwanted clinical cytokine release.
Prof. Gert Ossenkoppele from the department of hematology at the Free University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, will be the lead investigator of the first MCLA-117 Phase I study.
Company News: Merus Appoints Setareh van Driel Shamsili as Chief Medical Officer
Merus B.V., a biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative human antibody therapeutics, today announced the appointment of Setareh van Driel Shamsili, MD, Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer (CMO).
Setareh van Driel Shamsili has more than 22 years of experience in general medicine, internal medicine and medical oncology. For the past 13 years, she has focused on both translational and clinical cancer research. She has more than eight years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including drug development, R&D, medical affairs, drug safety and pharmacovigilance and holds a PhD in Neuro-Oncology from Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Prior to joining Merus, Setareh van Driel Shamsili was Global Medical Leader Oncology at Astellas Pharma Global Development.
Company News: Merus Announces the Full Validation of Its MeMo® Transgenic Mouse for Common Light Chain Human Antibodies
Merus B.V., a biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative human antibody therapeutics, announced today the full validation of its transgenic MeMo® mouse for common light chain human antibodies. The MeMo® mouse creates human antibody diversity using a large repertoire of human heavy chains paired with a common human light chain.
“Over the last year, we have immunized MeMo® mice with half a dozen antigens and analyzed the immune response,” said Mark Throsby, COO at Merus. “We are extremely excited by the performance of the MeMo® technology; serum antibody titers as well as size, diversity, functionality and developability of antibody panels are comparable to those of wild type mice.”
“In MeMo®, a single human light chain drives the generation of a normal B cell compartment as well as supports a robust immune response,” said Ton Logtenberg, CEO and founder of Merus. “The large and diverse panels of high-quality human antibodies that we retrieve from MeMo® show that this platform is comparable to the best-in-class transgenic platforms using diversified heavy and light chains.”
Because of the common light chain, MeMo®-derived antibodies can be immediately used to rapidly generate thousands of bispecific antibodies (Biclonics™) and combinations of antibodies (Oligoclonics®) for functional screening. Merus has shown that the quality and diversity of common light chain antibodies drives the success of identifying Biclonics™ with unprecedented potencies for application in oncology. The MeMo® mouse is available for licensing.
Company News: Merus Receives EP Patent Covering the Expression of Defined Antibody Combinations
Merus B.V., a biopharmaceutical company focused on multispecific human antibody therapeutics, announced today that it has been granted the first European patent covering its Oligoclonics® technology from a patent family that already comprises 4 issued US patents. The Oligoclonics® technology entails the manufacturing of at least three antibodies with different specificities by a single production cell line, thereby providing for combinations of human antibodies as a single therapeutic.
It has been demonstrated in clinical trials and disease models that combinations of antibodies are more efficacious than therapies based on single monoclonal antibodies alone. The Oligoclonics® technology is designed to provide important developmental and therapeutic value. It offers a platform for the stable, high-yield production of fully human, natural IgG antibody combinations by a single cell line using strategies currently exploited for conventional monoclonal antibodies in a manner that is cost-effective and acceptable to regulatory authorities.
“The therapeutic antibody field is moving towards combination therapies, either by combining individual monoclonal antibodies or by applying bispecific formats, to overcome the limited potency of monoclonal antibodies often observed in indications like oncology,” said Ton Logtenberg, CEO of Merus. “The Oligoclonics® technology provides a platform that allows for the cost-effective development and manufacturing of multispecific combinations of antibodies with more potent clinical effects. The key to the Oligoclonics® technology is that all antibodies produced by the clonal manufacturing cell line share a common light chain (cLC). With our recent announcement of MeMo®, a transgenic mouse for the generation of human cLC monoclonal antibodies, we are complementing our technology base with the aim to expand our pipeline of innovative cLC antibody products.”