Aevi Genomic Medicine has expanded its collaboration with Kyowa Hakko Kirin with the signing of an option agreement for an early stage monoclonal antibody program in an ultra-orphan pediatric indication.

Together, the companies have developed a collaboration framework to advance preclinical programs into the clinic, leveraging Aevi Genomic Medicine’s expertise in rare and orphan pediatric diseases, and its ongoing collaboration with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (“CHOP”) and the biobank at the Center for Applied Genomics at CHOP. 

This new program will focus on an undisclosed, first-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting a specific cell surface marker implicated in an auto-immune ultra-orphan disease that primarily affects children.    

“We are very excited to be deepening our partnership with Kyowa Hakko Kirin to identify and validate new potential targets in human disease,” said Garry Neil, chief scientific officer of Aevi Genomic Medicine. “We believe that this new program will demonstrate an ability to shorten development of novel medicines through a rigorous precision medicine methodology that pairs targeted KHK discoveries with the right patients in rare and orphan diseases by utilizing the comprehensive collection of rare and orphan specimens in the CHOP Biobank.”