ImmunoGen, Inc.

A Genmab lawsuit pits AbbVie against a close collaborator. \n AbbVie has filed a lawsuit against Genmab, accusing the Danish drugmaker of being “intentionally and willfully blind” to the theft of trade secrets. Genmab has vowed to “vigorously defend” itself against the claims.The case, which AbbVie filed late last week, centers on antibody-drug conjugate technology used by ProfoundBio. Genmab acquired the biotech for $1.8 billion last year, securing rights to a challenger to AbbVie’s Elahere. AbbVie alleges that ProfoundBio initially failed to produce a viable ADC pipeline and, “instead of doing the hard work necessary for success,” took a shortcut by tapping a former AbbVie employee, Julia Gavrilyuk, Ph.D., for knowledge.“Armed with AbbVie’s trade secrets and confidential information, ProfoundBio turned its luck around, filing patent applications and advancing a clinical pipeline that prominently feature what it characterized as its single ‘solution’ to the challenge of ADC development: designing ADCs with ‘hydrophilic linkers with proven payloads,’” AbbVie claimed in the lawsuit.Gavrilyuk and Tae Han, Ph.D., had worked together at Stemcentrx and, after that biotech was acquired, AbbVie. In 2018, Han cofounded ProfoundBio. The lawsuit claims Han was aware Gavrilyuk’s work at AbbVie “involved precisely the type of ADC linkers” ProfoundBio needed. According to the lawsuit, Gavrilyuk worked closely with Stefan Munneke, Ph.D., who had the idea of using open-chain sugars in ADC linkers, at AbbVie. The suit claims Han and ProfoundBio “knowingly and intentionally encouraged and enticed” Gavrilyuk to disclose “AbbVie’s stolen trade secret Sugar Scaffold ADC linkers and related designs.” ProfoundBio began filing patents and promoting its linker technology in 2021, according to the lawsuit, and the platform was central to its acquisition by Genmab.AbbVie’s lawsuit names Han, Gavrilyuk, ProfoundBio and Genmab as defendants. The alleged theft of trade secrets took place before Genmab acquired ProfoundBio. However, AbbVie is arguing Genmab should have known the biotech was built on its trade secrets. The lawsuit quotes Genmab executives discussing their high level of due diligence for the ProfoundBio buyout and notes that one executive said the innovative aspect of the ProfoundBio linker technology “is the very heavy use of sorbitol in order to increase the hydrophilicity.” Such quotes informed AbbVie’s allegation that “Genmab knew, reasonably had reason to know or was willfully blind” to the trade secrets.Genmab sees things differently, saying it “categorically refutes allegations and will vigorously defend the company.” The Danish drugmaker called the case “yet another lawsuit among multiple recent lawsuits filed by AbbVie against competitors alleging misappropriation of its trade secrets by former AbbVie employees.” Adcentrx, Alvotech, BeiGene and Revance have been in AbbVie’s crosshairs in similar cases. The Genmab lawsuit pits AbbVie against a close collaborator. AbbVie and Genmab co-commercialize the blood cancer drug Epkinly in the U.S. and Japan. However, Genmab established itself as a potential direct competitor to AbbVie in other areas when it bought ProfoundBio.Rinatabart sesutecan, an ADC designed to deliver a topoisomerase-1 inhibitor to cells that express folate receptor alpha, was the centerpiece of the ProfoundBio deal. AbbVie acquired an ADC against the same target when it paid $10.1 billion for ImmunoGen in 2022. 

The alliance combines the strengths of OBT’s platform with Roche’s expertise in drug development. Credit: PowerUp/Shutterstock. Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) has entered a multi-year partnership with Roche to discover antibody-based therapeutics for cancer treatment. The partnership will leverage OBT’s OGAP-Verify discovery platform, which claims to offer greater sensitivity and enables target selection with enhanced drug development attributes. OBT will identify targets using its platform, which will then be validated via joint research efforts. Roche will lead subsequent research, development and commercialisation activities for these targets. It will pay OBT up to $36m upfront. OBT could also earn more than $1bn in milestone payments, in addition to royalties on net product sales. The alliance combines the strengths of OBT’s discovery platform with Roche’s expertise in drug development, aiming to progress several oncology targets. Roche corporate business development head Boris Zaïtra stated: “We are excited to enter this strategic collaboration with OBT. By combining Roche’s expertise in discovering and developing transformative therapeutics with OBT’s innovative target discovery platform, we aim to unlock new possibilities in cancer treatment. “This partnership underscores our commitment to advancing potentially first-in-class antibody-based therapeutics. Together, we aim to accelerate the development of innovative therapies that address major unmet patient needs in oncology.” OBT, as a clinical-stage oncology company, focuses on developing antibody-based therapies to address unmet needs in cancer treatment. Its portfolio includes bispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates. OBT076, the company’s lead clinical programme, commenced expansion in a US clinical trial in2021, which included subjects with advanced or refractory solid tumours, such as lung, bladder, ovarian and gastric cancers. Its pipeline and development offerings have been previously validated via collaborations with Abbvie’s ImmunoGen, Zymeworks and Boehringer Ingelheim, among others.

Collaboration leverages OBT’s proprietary OGAP®-Verify discovery platform and Roche’s drug development expertise to advance multiple selected novel oncology targetsOBT to receive up to US$36 million upfront payments and may be eligible to receive milestone payments potentially exceeding US$1 billion, as well as royalties Oxford, UK and San Jose, California, 19th March 2025 – Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT), a clinical stage oncology company with a pipeline of immuno-oncology (IO) and Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC)-based therapies, today announced a multi-year collaboration with Roche to discover novel potentially first-in-class antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. OBT’s recently launched enhanced proprietary OGAP®-Verify discovery platform enables greater sensitivity and thereby the selection of targets with improved attributes for drug development. Under the terms of the agreement, targets are identified via the OGAP®-Verify discovery platform and will be validated through the research collaboration. Any further research, development and commercialization efforts against these targets will be driven by Roche. OBT will receive up to US$36 million upfront payments from Roche and may be eligible to receive milestone payments potentially exceeding US$1 billion, plus product royalties on net sales. “We are proud to partner with Roche, a global leader in oncology, to accelerate the application of novel cancer targets identified through our proprietary discovery platform, OGAP-Verify,” said Christian Rohlff, PhD, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Oxford BioTherapeutics. “This collaboration builds on our efforts to enhance, validate and advance the discovery of oncology targets, and we look forward to leveraging Roche’s deep expertise to translate these insights into potential new treatments for patients. Our discovery philosophy is very patient centric and Roche’s strength to integrate pharma and diagnostics is unique in the industry.” “We are excited to enter into this strategic collaboration with OBT. By combining Roche’s expertise in discovering and developing transformative therapeutics with OBT’s innovative target discovery platform, we aim to unlock new possibilities in cancer treatment”, said Boris L. Zaïtra, Head of Corporate Business Development at Roche. “This partnership underscores our commitment to advancing potentially first-in-class antibody-based therapeutics. Together, we aim to accelerate the development of innovative therapies that address major unmet patient needs in oncology.” About Oxford BioTherapeutics Oxford BioTherapeutics is a clinical stage oncology company discovering and developing first in class antibody-based therapies designed to fulfil major unmet patient needs in cancer therapy. These include Bispecific Antibodies and Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) therapeutics. OBT is dedicated to discovering and validating the next generation of ADC targets for safe and effective medicines. The OGAP-Verify platform’s enhanced sensitivity, specificity, and reliability will significantly accelerate biopharma’s capabilities to identify and validate human targets with robust scientific support. Our commitment to leveraging OGAP capabilities underscores our dedication to advancing the forefront of cancer therapy development, with three programs originating from this technology now in clinical development in the US and Europe. OBTs IO discovery process provides unique insights into the cancer-immune cell synapse and has identified several novel IO monoclonal and bispecific antibody candidates for cancer therapies. OBT's lead clinical program, OBT076, initiated expansion in a US Clinical Trial in 2021 in patients with advanced or refractory solid tumors, including gastric, bladder, ovarian and lung cancer, where CD205 is overexpressed. Infiltration of tumors by immunosuppressive cells correlates with adverse outcomes (lower progression free and overall survival), suggesting that this process contributes to the progression of several cancers. OBT’s pipeline and development capabilities have been validated through multiple strategic partnerships including with Boehringer Ingelheim, ImmunoGen (now part of Abbvie) and Zymeworks as well as other world leaders in antibody development (such as Amgen, WuXi, Medarex (BMS) and Alere (Abbott). OBT has a strong oncology focused management team and board with significant experience in developing IO and antibody-based therapies. For more information on Oxford BioTherapeutics, please visit www.oxfordbiotherapeutics.com and follow us on LinkedIn. Partnering:Dr Christian Rohlff, CEOPartnering@oxfordbiotherapeutics.com Media:MEDiSTRAVA Sylvie Berrebi, Sandi Greenwood, Erica HollingsworthE : OBT@medistrava.comT : +44 (0)203 928 6900