Genmab A/S of Copenhagen entered a broad multitarget alliance with Gemini Genomics plc of Cambridge, UK, covering osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. The deal is the Danish company's first since it went public on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange and the Neuer Markt in October.

The companies aim to develop new antibody therapeutics and diagnostics based on targets supplied by Gemini. The two firms will share development costs and eventual revenues from outlicensing deals or product sales. The companies selected the four therapeutic areas on the basis of market potential and medical need.

"They're all diseases of the aging population," Lisa Drakeman, CEO of Genmab, told BioWorld International.

A joint steering committee soon will finalize the initial targets that will move into the development program.

Genmab's chief scientific officer, Jan van de Winkel, who is based at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, said cardiovascular disease is likely to be among the first conditions to be addressed, as Gemini has attractive targets in that area. "And, also, osteoporosis is pretty high on the list," he added.

Genmab is 32 percent owned by Medarex Inc., of Princeton, N.J., and has unlimited access to that company's HuMab antibody generation technology. This comprises a transgenic mouse that harbors human rather than murine genes for antibody production. Genmab's preclinical research facility at Utrecht will be responsible for generating panels of monoclonal antibodies to each target antigen and then selecting candidates for further clinical development on the basis of in vitro and in vivo assays.

"It's about eight months to go to the clinic at the shortest and 12 months at the longest," van de Winkel said.

The Gemini deal is part of a wider strategy within Genmab to enter three to four new alliances with genomics firms by the end of next year. "So now I'm down to two to three," said Drakeman. "We have a number of [additional] discussions under way," she added. The company will also seek to in-license new targets from academic researchers.

Meanwhile, Genmab is about to move its lead compound, HuMax-CD4, a human antibody treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, into Phase II trials. "We promised it before the end of the year. We intend to keep that promise," said Drakeman. The company reported positive results last month from a dose-escalating, placebo-controlled Phase I/II study of 35 patients. Fifty percent of the subjects taking the four highest doses displayed favorable responses to the compound, based on criteria established by the American College of Rheumatology.