HBM-backed Argenx gets Shire as partner
Dutch antibody company Argenx (Euronext & Nasdaq:ARGX), a top ten holding for Swiss-listed HBM Healthcare (HBMN, 2.9% of NAV), has gained a new licensing partner with the exercise by Shire Pharmaceuticals of an option held under a 2012 discovery alliance. The license covers a a preclinical stage antibody discovered and developed using Argenx’s proprietary SIMPLE Antibody and Fc engineering technologies.
The option exercise, which triggered an undisclosed milestone payment, means Argenx now has five partnered programmes in its pipeline.Two of these are in clinical trials: gerilimzumab, an IL-6 antibody is partnered with Genor Biopharma for the Chinese market and is in development for rheumatoid arthritis, and ARGX-112, an IL-22 receptor antibody, is partnered with Leo and in development for skin diseases.
The move comes at an important time as Argenx approaches a Phase II readout for lead product efgartigimod in immune thrombocytopaenia, following positive Phase II results in generalised myasthenia gravis (MG). The Phase II of efgartigimod in MG showed clinical improvement on the Myasthenia Gravis Activity-of-Daily-Living (MG-ADL) score.(p=0.0356), with 75% of patients treated with efgartigimod had a clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement in MG-ADL versus 25% of patients on placebo (p=0.0391). The company plans to initiate a Phase III study in MG before the end of this year. A second internal programme, ARGX-110, is underway in a Phase II study for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (cTCL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
Argenx’s market cap is currently €2.5bn.