In a small but potentially significant step, MedImmune LLC, a subsidiary of AstraZeneca PLC, and two veteran non-profit organizations, the Cancer Research Institute and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, have agreed to collaborate on clinical trials to test combinations of three novel monoclonal antibodies from MedImmune’s pipeline. The partners also said they are open to including promising non-MedImmune novel compounds in the trials.
The agreement, announced Oct. 9, calls for Ludwig and CRI, with input from MedImmune, to conduct the trials using yet-to-be determined combinations of the three compounds, and/or other compounds the partners are working on, or other potential partners might offer up. One of the compounds is tremelimumab, which Pfizer Inc