AstraZeneca and MedImmune agree Omnis Pharmaceuticals alliance

AstraZeneca's biologics research and development arm MedImmune has agreed a licensing deal with Omnis Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on the development of oncolytic viruses.

Under the terms of this agreement, MedImmune will be able to combine key agents from its investigational immunotherapy portfolio with Omnis' lead investigational oncolytic virus programme, a genetically engineered strain of vesicular stomatitis virus.

This is currently being studied in a phase I clinical trial as a monotherapy for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and other cancers that have metastasised to the liver, and is considered highly promising.

MedImmune will receive a licence to develop and commercialise this oncolytic virus programme. Clinical development will be accelerated, with the objective of rapidly progressing to combination studies.

Dr Edward Bradley, senior vice-president for research and development and head of MedImmune's oncology innovative medicines unit, said: "Our immunotherapy molecules offer the prospect of boosting the cancer-killing abilities of these viruses by enhancing the anti-cancer effect."

This comes after MedImmune announced a number of new collaborations with partners such as Immunocore, Advaxis and the University of Cambridge last year.