Selexis SA and OSE Immunotherapeutics SA have signed a commercial license agreement that provides OSE Immunotherapeutics with access to high performance research cell banks (RCBs) from the Selexis SUREtechnology Platform. The agreement builds upon previous collaboration between the two companies in November 2016 and is designed to support the advancement of the clinical development of OSE’s interleukin receptor 7 antagonist, OSE-127 (Effi-7), under development as a potential treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis.

“Based on the successful completion of our initial work on the OSE-127 program, we are pleased to broaden the scope of our collaboration with OSE Immunotherapeutics,” said Marco Bocci, vice president, licensing and business development, Selexis. “The broad applicability of our technology, coupled with our robust cell lines, provides our partners with the opportunity to continue working with us long-term across their drug development cycles. We look forward to helping OSE Immunotherapeutics realize the full potential of OSE-127.”

Dominique Costantini, chief executive officer, OSE Immunotherapeutics, said, “We are pleased to advance our collaboration with Selexis with the initiation of a key step for our immunotherapy OSE-127 towards the clinical stage and its development in ulcerative colitis.”

OSE-127 is a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the CD127 receptor (the alpha chain of the Interleukin 7 receptor (IL-7R)). It induces a powerful antagonist effect for better control of the pathogenic T lymphocytes involved in autoimmune diseases. The strategy of blocking the IL-7 has demonstrated efficacy in restoring the impaired immune balance in autoimmune diseases of the bowel in several preclinical models, such as ulcerative colitis.