Technologies and Vision
Massachusetts Biotechnology Council
Drug Discovery Committee
February 19, 2009
MBC, Cambridge
Ronan C. O’Hagan
AVEO’s niche is its unique cancer biology platform applied to the discovery and development of functional anti-cancer antibodies
• Faster, more efficient route to clinical POC
AVEO’s Unique Niche
Platform & biological insight State-of-the-art antibody drug discovery/engineering
AVEO
Value Creation
• Platform = high value, for short time period
• Long term value = drug discovery & development
Relative Valuation
Time
Value Creation Models in Biotech
Platform Company
AVEO’s Innovative Platform: Better Models of Human Cancer
Breast Her2 Lung EGFRL858R Colon -Catenin Lung KRas Lung EGFRL858R, T790M Inject stem cells into 3 day mouse embryos Inducible Oncogenic Mouse Stem Cell Mouse Stem CellMice seeded with Inducible oncogenic tissue Introduce human oncogene in select tissue
• Defined genetic context
• Oncogene activated post-natally
• Natural in vivo setting
• Heterogeneity across population
Expected as well as Novel Cancer Targets
Filtering by Recurrence in (~ 200) Independent Tumors Adjacent to or within candidate gene (~ 30 kb)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-15 16-20 >20 Met MAPK6 Edg2 MAP3K8 Kirrel1 Erbb3 vav3 PLK3 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-15 16-20 >20 Tumor Recurrence Integration Sites Esr1 Erbb3 Met Erbb2 EGFR
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Novel Cancer Targets identified in genetic Screens that are capable of complementing HER2 in vivoTargets Identified from MaSS Screen include Credentialed + Novel
Novel = Long term investment; take time to progress
Credentialed:
Enable early creation of value
Proof of Concept for novel targets
AVEO’s MaSS Screen: Identifies functionally relevant cancer targets
Additional Filters for Relevance in Human Cancers: e.g. Cancer Mutations
Highlights well credentialed targets
AVEO Antibody Drug Discovery
AVEO Drug Discovery engine is focused on development of therapeutic antibodies
• More rapid & cost effective to build necessary infrastructure • Enhanced specificity for target
• Less risk of off-target toxicity
• Faster, more sure path through clinical development • Rapid growth of mAbs as therapeutics
•
Better Validated Targets:
•
In vivo context is uniquely suited to identify best antibody
targets
•
Better Antibodies:
•
Tools and know-how for drug discovery
•
Better Models:
•
Proprietary target-driven tumors enable optimal drug discovery
•
Better Biomarkers:
•
AVEO technology facilitates identification of response
biomarkers
AVEO Antibody Pipeline
AVEO Antibody Drug Discovery Goals
•
Build a sustainable antibody pipeline through the generation of
one antibody development candidate/year
•
This requires
• Incubation of a pipeline of antibody projects
Robust Antibody Pipeline Beyond AV-299
Effective discovery engine delivering novel, high quality oncology
antibody drug candidates
Target Discovery & Validation Antibody Generation/ Screening Lead Antibody Development Candidate Preclinical Development Phase 1 HGF RON FGFR3 FGFR2 FGFR1 FGFR4 Notch1 Notch2 Notch3 ErbB3 EGFR790 AV-299
Pipeline
•
Current focus on target families that are involved in the regulation
of distinct but overlapping biological processes
• Pathways/targets validated by AVEO platform
• AVEO platform may provide unique insights into complex biology
• Synergy
• Different therapeutic opportunities
•
Goals:
1. Discovery of potent humanized/human antagonistic antibodies
• Direct inhibition of target function - no antibody effector functions (ADCC, CDC) required for activity
2. Develop a translational research program to guide clinical
development and discovery of biomarkers that potentially
identify human patient populations most likely to respond to
drug
Building an Antibody Drug Discovery Engine
o AVEO’s niche is its unique cancer biology platform applied to the discovery and development of functional anti-cancer antibodies
• Faster, more efficient route to clinical POC
o Requirements:
• State of the art antibody discovery/engineering tools
• Generate/engineer antibodies with ideal activity/pharmacologic profile
• Engineer desired cross-reactivity profile (mouse, cyno) to maximize the use of AVEO cancer biology platform and facilitate pre-clinical development
• Ability to cost effectively produce multiple antibody candidates
• Either for AVEO or partners
• When to outsource, when to build in house?
• Constantly evolving application of AVEO cancer biology platforms to address key issues associated with different drug discovery programs
AVEO Antibody Drug Discovery Capabilities
•
Antibody diversity generation
•
Protein biochemistry
•
Antibody characterization
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Development candidate generation
•
Functional assays
•
In vivo pharmacology
•
Preclinical development
A repertoire of know-how and advanced tools to access targets efficiently
AVEO Drug Discovery Capabilities: Better Antibodies
• Antibody diversity generation • Protein biochemistry • Antibody characterization • Dev. candidate generation • Functional assays • In vivo pharmacology • Preclinical development
• Murine monoclonal antibodies (Maine Biotechnology Services) • Phage display (Dyax)
• Immunization strategy (Antigen design, stimulatory adjuvant oligonucleotides, etc.) • Antigen expression and purification (Lonza)
• Protein engineering (pegylation, deglycosylation, biotinylation, TRAP production) • Biacore T100 (Screening, kinetic analysis, epitope mapping)
• Octet (High-througput kinetic screening, Ab concentration, neutralization, assay dvlp.) • KinExA (Cell surface affinity); Meso Scale (Electrochemiluminescence detection) • Superhumanization (Arana)
• Design, synthesis, and expression of competitor antibodies
• Cell surface binding/internalization • Neutralization of ligand binding • Cellular biochemistry (FDCP, BaF3)
• Phenotypic assays (dBase of human cancer cell lines)
• Multiplex detection pathway modulation • High-throughput soft agar assays • Mouse (+/- tumor), Rat, Cyno monkey
• PK/PD/efficacy relationship • Murine tumor archive
• Human primary tumors (under development) • Target driven DC tumors
• Knock in/knock out mouse models • In house (PK, ADA, neutralization assays, multiplex serum markers, CTC biomarker
development, ADCC, CDC)
• Outsourced GLP work (Cyno toxicology, pharmacology, and reactivity; human cross-reactivity)
• The completion of the human genome has provided the entire field with a comprehensive list of human protein encoded genes
• Bioinformatics analyses can identify antibody target candidates (cell surface
and secreted proteins) based on amino acid structure, and relatedness to other known proteins of these classes
• Everybody has access to the most obvious targets – difficult to gain competitive
advantage against these targets
• The current challenge, and AVEO’s advantage, is in developing and applying
sophisticated in vivo biological systems that can help us identify which targets are the most functionally relevant for driving tumor growth and survival
• Identification of functionally relevant cancer targets from in vivo genetic screen • Preservation of tumor-stromal interactions
• Targets identified in micro-environment-dependent settings • Target validation with context-dependent emphasis
• Validation using in vivo models
• Evaluation of candidate therapeutics using context-specific approaches • Consideration of context at early stage
• Rapid progression to testing using in vivo models of human cancers
Cell culture creates
a very artificial environment
Adhesion to plastic substrate
Potent bovine serum growth factors
•Cell culture cannot capture the complex interactions that occur in an real tumor environment
•Genetic screens in an in vivo context could provide more relevant antibody targets
•Target validation & antibody discovery using in vivo models preserves interactions between tumor and microenvironment, including receptor/ligand interactions
Varied [O2] Tumor cells Tumor endothelium Myeloid cells lymphocytes Stromal cells
In vivo
context is complex
multicomponent environment
21% [O2]
AVEO Target Identification and Validation:
The Importance of Context
MW U87MG tumors 1 2 3 U87MG cells In culture 50kDa 30kDa 120kDa 220kDa 60kDa 80kDa 100kDa 1 2 3
• Phospho-tyrosine signaling reflects key RTK and TK signaling activity in a cell
• Differing conditions result in different pathway signaling in vitroand in vivo
Pathway signaling varies dramatically between
in vitro
and
in vivo
environments
Higher levels of pTyr signaling are seen in a cell culture
environment
Antibody Targets: The Importance of Context
Inhibition of U87 growth by HGF mAb 3 days treatment--BrdU -2 -1 0 1 2 0 5000 10000
Log mAb Conc. (ng/ml)
RLU 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 5 10 15 20 25 dosing starts no FBS aHGF Ab 5% FBS aHGF Ab no FBS IgG 5% FBS IgG
Although HGF and Met are thought to be important in human cancer, HGF
would not have been identified as an essential target in cell culture models
Tumor regression induced By 2x wk 10mg/kg HGF mAb No inhibition of U87 growth by HGF mAb
3 days treatment--BrdU
Tumor volume (mm
3 )
Days
Antibody Targets: The Importance of Context
Days
Proprietary AVEO inducible tumor models enable the rapid switching of oncogenes in primary tumors
Unique AVEO breast c-met / HGF driven tumor is sensitive to AV-299 but not to Herceptin
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 T u mo r V o lu me ( m m 3 ) hIgG 10 mpk AV299 10 mpk 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 0 5 10 15 Days Tum or V o lu m e ( m m 3 ) mIgG 10 mpk 2B8 10 mpk mIgG 10 mpk mu-299 10 mpk 0 500 1000 1500 2000 0 5 10 15 20 25 Days Tum or V o lum e ( m m 3 ) mIgG 10 mpk 2B8 10 mpk mIgG 10 mpk mu-299 10 mpk
AV-299 Example: MET/HGF and HGF Complemented Murine Breast
Tumors Showed Variable Response to AV-299/2B8 Treatment
6534- 2B8 6535- 2B8 6612-AV299 TGI: 86%, p=0.0079 TGI: 99.7%, p=0.0007
Hiarachical clustering by ~800 differentially expressed genes between MET/HGF driven and non-Met
MET/HGF driven Non-MET/HGF driven
Identifying a signature correlating with HGF responsiveness
provides candidate biomarkers for clinic
Rapidly Maturing Pipeline
• Functional in vivo screens for target discovery
• Powerful antibody discovery engine yields rich pipeline • Lead antibody – AV-299 anti-HGF – in Phase 1
• Programs focused on exciting targets (e.g. FGFR, Notch, ErbB3)
Human Response Platform (HRP™)
• Unique human-relevant cancer models facilitate identification of mechanisms of drug response and resistance
• Informs clinical strategy for AV-951, pipeline, partners’ products
to responsive patient populations
Development of drug discovery capabilities enables maximal
exploitation of biological insights from platform technologies
Require drug development capabilities beyond preclinical
proof-of-concept and clinical hypotheses to realize this value
Preclinical Development
•
GLP work outsourced:
• Cyno toxicology, Cyno and human tissue cross-reactivity,
Cyno pharmacology, assays
•
In house
:• PK, ADA, neutralization assays
• Multiplex serum markers
• CTC biomarker development
The Cost of Manufacturing:
Major Hurdle for Antibody Clinical Development
•
The cost associated with production provides a high barrier to take
antibody programs to clinical POC
•
Changing manufacturing paradigms
1. Improved cell engineering technologies – fast generation of stable, high producing cell lines
• Chromosomal insulator regions to increase expression and stability of expression
• Selexis (Insulator Genetic Elements)
• Catalent GPEx (Gene Product Expression) - retrovirus (MoMuLV) based expression system
• Millipore UCOE (Ubiquitos Chromatine Opening Elements)
2. Improved process development
• High-throughput selection of highly productive cell line/media combinations
• Invitrogen: automated colony picker robot
• Xcellerex: high throughput cell sorting for high producers
• Development of alternative cell lines (PER.C6)– higher yield due to high density XDA perfusion technology (ability of the cell line to produce over a long period of time)
• Percivia/Crucell
3. Disposable manufacturing (Xcellerex FlexFactory) – disposable bioreactors, self-contained purification units
- Flexibility, easy to switch production
- Parallel production of different antibodies
- Cheaper to set up than traditional manufacturing
New technologies that allow higher productivity have the potential to bring clinical costs to a level similar to small molecules
$39 $74 $51 $44 $42 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Small 0.4 g/L 1.5 g/L 5 g/L 20 g/L
Antibody Research & Development Costs (Preclinical through Phase 2)
Millions of Dollars OOP Costs FTE Costs Preclinical Tox Cell Line Dvlp Stability Testing Translational Res. Process Dvlp Analytical Dvlp Drug Substance (Manufacturing) Drug Product (Finish / Fill) Formulation Dvlp Variable Costs Fixed Costs Almost $40M in costs between preclinical and Phase II are fixed
Similar productivity
to AV-299
Process Development costs likely required to generate
high titer cell lines
$39
$74
$51
$44
AV-299: Anti-HGF Monoclonal Antibody
Novel target • Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF); no approved drugs
Broad potential
• Multiple Solid Tumors
• 30-40% of breast cancers
• 30-40% of pancreatic cancers
• 40-70% of lung cancers
• 75-90% of gliomas
Differentiated • Potential first- and best-in-class HGF inhibitor
Partnership • Discovered at AVEO
• Development and commercialization partnership with
Schering-Plough worth up to $477M plus royalties
• AVEO responsible for research and clinical development
through Phase 2 at SP’s expense
• AVEO retains co-promotion rights in US for certain
oncology indications
IP • Applications filed
AVEO’s Competitive, Clinical and Commercial Advantage
Development
Capabilities
Antibody
Discovery
Commercialization
• Identification of responsive patient populations increases probability of clinical success • Informs rational choice of drug combinations • Discovery and validation of functionally relevant targets • Rapidly maturing pipeline of novel functional antibodies • Opportunity for differentiation in large markets • Supports optimal pricing and reimbursementProprietary Integrated Biology Platform
Synergy between Drug Development Capabilities and Cancer
Biology Platform Informs Clinical Strategy for Products & Pipeline
•
Products
•
Lead programs target 3 of the most important pathways in
cancer (VEGFR, EGFR, HGF)
•
Lead product in Phase 2
•
Platform
•
Discovery and validation of functionally relevant targets
•
Identification of responsive patient populations increases
probability of success
•
Informs rational choice of drug combinations
•
Supports optimal pricing and reimbursement
•
Pipeline
•
Powerful antibody discovery engine yields rich pipeline
•
Lead antibody program in Phase 1
Skill sets in a platform company often differ from those required for drug discovery Retraining & re-assigning personnel is central to AVEO philosophy and a key to the