Amgen and Xencor to collaborate on cancer research

Amgen has announced a new cancer-focused collaboration with Xencor, bringing together the capabilities and expertise of both companies.

The two companies have entered into a research and license agreement to develop and commercialise novel therapeutics in the areas of cancer immunotherapy and inflammation.

It will leverage Amgen's capabilities in target discovery and protein therapeutics and Xencor's XmAb bispecific technology platform, with Xencor to handle molecular engineering and preclinical development of bispecific molecules for five programmes proposed by Amgen.

Amgen will then be fully responsible for preclinical and clinical development and commercialisation worldwide. Xencor will receive a $45 million (29.01 million pounds) upfront payment and up to $1.7 billion in clinical, regulatory and sales milestone payments.

Dr Sean Harper, executive vice-president of research and development at Amgen, said: "We are pleased to be joining forces with Xencor to expand our immuno-oncology and inflammation position by leveraging Amgen's antibodies and Xencor's bispecific antibody platform."

This comes after the firm also recently announced a new neuroscience research collaboration with Novartis.