New cancer vaccine platform! Boehringer Ingelheim's 325 million euro acquisition of Amal and expansion of cancer immune portfolio assets!

July 16, 2019 / BIOON / - Boehringer Ingelheim, a German pharmaceutical giant, recently announced the acquisition of all shares in Amal therapeutics SA, a Swiss private biotechnology company focusing on cancer immunotherapy and promoting the first therapeutic cancer vaccine derived from its technology platform kisima Amal's lead vaccine, atp128, is currently being developed for stage IV colorectal cancer and is expected to launch its first human clinical trials later this month Bringer Ingelheim plans to develop new treatments by combining the assets of its cancer immunology portfolio with Amal's proprietary kisima immunization platform The total amount of the transaction is likely to be up to 325 million euros, including a down payment and contingent clinical, development, regulatory milestone payments and a total of 100 million euros to reach specific commercialization milestones Amal, headquartered at the University of Geneva School of medicine, was spun off in 2012 Upon completion of the transaction, Amal will remain on the campus of the University of Geneva in Switzerland and operate as a subsidiary of bringer Ingelheim Unlike preventive vaccines, which vaccinate patients before infection, therapeutic vaccines are used to fight against existing diseases The antigens carried by anti-cancer therapeutic vaccines also exist in tumors By providing antigens to the patient's immune system, therapeutic vaccines can trigger customized responses, including the activation of tumor specific killer T cells, and enhanced memory immunity to reduce the risk of recurrence Amal's proprietary technology platform kisima can assemble three functional components into a fusion protein, which can be used as a vaccine: first, a proprietary cell penetrating peptide is used for antigen delivery; second, a proprietary toll like receptor (TLR) peptide agonist is used as an adjuvant; third, a customizable multi antigen is used for specific indications Michel pairet, a member of the board of directors of the kisima technology platform (photo source: Amal website), said: "the acquisition of Amal is part of the company's long-term strategy, which aims to enhance our existing position as innovators of new cancer therapies, including immunooncology drugs We want to create a new model of cancer patient care based on biology, and the technology and expertise developed by Amal is critical to our efforts " The cancer immunology team at bringer Ingelheim aims to find treatments that trigger an immune response to fight "cold" tumors, representing a large group of cancer types that are not sensitive to many treatments, including checkpoint inhibitor drugs Immune targeting of "cold" tumors is a special challenge Amal's kisima vaccine technology, designed to stimulate an effective immune response, is a promising treatment option for these cancer patients The acquisition of Amal and the acquisition of VirA therapeutics (vira-t) in 2018, as well as SIRP - α targeted antibodies licensed from ose immunotherapeutics, will greatly strengthen the strategic focus of Boehringer Ingelheim in immunotargeted therapy By combining world-class in-house research and development with the research and development of highly innovative biotechnology companies, Boehringer Ingelheim is developing innovative immunotumor therapies and accelerating the delivery of next-generation cancer therapies Original source: Boehringer Ingelheim acquire Amal therapeutics, signficably enriching it cancer immunology portfolio with new cancer vaccines platform