About
When uncontrolled, inflammation can contribute to the development and progression of a variety of medical conditions, such as cancer, stroke, heart attack, or arthritis, to name a few. XBiotech has discovered True Human antibodies that target a key mediator of pathological inflammation.
The sale of the antibody generated $750 million in upfront cash and up to $600 million in potential milestone payments. As part of the sale, XBiotech agreed not to develop or market anti-il-1⍺ antibody treatments for dermatological diseases. However, the company retained the right to pursue the development of True Human™ antibodies targeting il-1⍺ for all areas of medicine. Completed clinical studies and a myriad of scientific research have shown that blocking il-1⍺ may have a beneficial effect in numerous medical conditions. The potential unmet medical need for blocking inflammation through neutralizing il-1⍺ is vast.
Anti-inflammatory therapies include a broad class of drugs, making up perhaps the most widely used medicines around the globe. XBiotech has discovered True Human™ antibodies that neutralize a key driver of inflammation in the human body—IL-1⍺. XBiotech has been exploring antibody therapies that neutralize IL-1⍺ in different areas of medicine. A body of XBiotech's published research for this program is now in the medical literature.
XBiotech has unique capabilities to expeditiously develop testing technologies and therapies for viral or bacterial infectious disease outbreaks.
High stringency screening enables us to find donor bloods with powerful neutralizing antibodies; and our proprietary cloning technology allows us to capture the genetic information to transform these natural antibodies into product candidates. The result is the rapid generation of True Human monoclonal antibody product candidates—that are very likely to recapitulate the natural immunity of the donor. We believe XBiotech’s technology and capabilities are unparalleled for creating novel, effective treatments for infectious disease, and potentially rapidly addressing infectious disease outbreaks.
Natural human immunity is very effective at neutralizing varicella for most of our lives, when we might have billions of different antibodies. Later in life, as we age, the quantity and diversity of our antibody repertoires diminish.
Even though we may have had decades of natural antibody protection from active Varicella infection, as we age a “hole” can develop in the antibody repertoire that was responsible for controlling Varicella infections. When this happens, varicella virus that has been “hiding” in cells of our body can resurge, spread about the body and cause debilitating disease, commonly known as Shingles. XBiotech has isolated potent True Human™ neutralizing antibodies from healthy donors that naturally protect against Varicella. We believe that patients suffering from resurgent Varicella due to aging immune systems can be effectively treated. There is a substantial unmet medical need for Shingles therapy. There are also other indications where uncontrolled Varicella infections, such in infants whose immune systems are not yet adequately developed, would be treatable with such a product.
Along with other infectious disease targets, in the Company’s ABSL2 laboratory it has been testing True Human™ product candidates against C. difficile bacteria, the cause of debilitating and deadly intestinal infections.
Healthy people with powerful anti-C. diff antibodies? We believe this is a crucial clue that these natural antibodies are so capable of protecting against the disease that these individuals don't even have a known history of infection. These are antibodies that are exciting medically and from which wer derive our product candidates. The Company’s C. difficile program has resulted in the discovery of novel True Human™ antibodies that are able to block both the motility and prevent adhesion of C. difficile bacteria, two features of the bacteria essential to its maneuvering and adhering to the lining of the intestine, respectively. The Company has been developing a first-of-its-kind oral therapy, which would allow a True Human™ antibody to be delivered in pill form to the intestine, where the drug could neutralize the bacteria such that it is carried away harmlessly and lost with fecal matter. A manufacturing process is in development to dramatically reduce the cost of production for this oral product compared to injectable antibody preparations (all marketed monoclonal antibody products are currently delivered by injection).
Influenza kills tens of thousands of individuals each year. At XBiotech we analyzed the genetic information from over one century of influenza—to enable us to find individuals with natural immunity that could neutralize all known influenza viruses.
The Company identified genetic variants that were common for these viruses across more than the past century, including the 1918 pandemic. Based on these common traits, we were able to search healthy humans for True Human™ antibodies capable of neutralizing all historic influenza strains. The result is we have an antibody preparation that could provide protection against all known Influenza strains of the past century.
This bacteria is one of the most common causes of infectious in deep tissue wounds and blood infections, causing higher morbidity and mortality than any other bacteria.
The lethality of S. aureus infections owes to its ability to evade the human immune system and grow unchecked in blood and tissues. At XBiotech we uncovered this mechanism and identified a special subset of True Human antibodies in healthy donors that could neutralize the bacteria—including the drug resistant form. With the opioid epidemic, S. aureus infections in the blood, and consequent infections of the heart as a result of needle use, are having a devastating impact. S. aureus infections are also the second leading cause of death for end-stage renal disease patients undergoing hemodialysis.
John Cunningham virus (JC virus) is a human polyoma virus that causes progressive multifocal encephalopathy (PML), a fatal demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS).
If immunocompromised patients latent JC virus can emerge from dormancy and result in devastating infection of the central nervous system. This includes patients with multiple sclerosis treated with immunosuppressive drugs such as natalizumab, efalizumab and rituximab. XBiotech is currently isolating True Human therapeutic candidates that neutralize the virus infection and prevent its spread to healthy neurons.
Modern medicine should help patients feel better, not worse. At XBiotech, we believe in the Hippocratic principle of "do no harm." We believe this is inherent to the innovative True Human™ antibody medicines we are developing. True Human™ antibodies move beyond the idea that effective medicines must come with toxicity or harmful side effects.
By utilizing the body’s natural immune system, XBiotech develops therapies that help you heal and feel better.