Vancouver biotech company Zymeworks Inc. has signed a contract with pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) that is worth up to US$187 million.
“The likelihood of Zymeworks achieving all of its milestones and getting paid for all of this deal’s potential is quite high because of existing preclinical data that we have,” Zymeworks CEO Ali Tehrani told Business in Vancouver August 29.
Zymeworks researchers focus on antibodies, a naturally occurring type of protein that is part of the human immune system. Antibodies identify and eliminate antigens or foreign molecules that can create diseases or tumours.
The company modifies antibodies to make them more efficient at identifying and eliminating antigens.
“We’ve tweaked antibodies to make them more attuned at picking up disease,” Tehrani said.
“In the traditional sense, an antibody recognizes one target or one location on a disease target to bind to. We’ve enabled it to bind to two “That means that instead of taking a cocktail of drugs or two drugs, you can now reduce that to one drug.”
Zymeworks, a privately held company, does not use microscopes or other traditional equipment to view tiny organisms.
Instead, it uses computer renderings because the antibodies are too small for researchers to see.
“This is the nanotechnology of biotechnology,” Tehrani said.
“We’re able to use protein modelling to generate really detailed knowledge about something that can’t be seen or handled readily in a regular laboratory.”
Glen Korstrom
Twitter: GlenKorstrom