Pharma company acquires faculty-founded biotech firm for $537M

By Roxanne Moster and Rachel Champeau

A business success story has both UCLA and a team of the university's enterprising scientists envisioning a brighter future for cancer research and patient care.

In 1996, a unique collaboration of leading UCLA scientists led by Arie Belldegrun founded the biotechnology company Agensys Inc. — and the company now stands to reap $537 million through an acquisition by Astellas Pharma Inc., making Agensys one of the largest Los Angeles-based private biotech firms poised to tackle therapeutic, fully human monoclonal antibody oncology research and drug development.

According to Astellas, the acquisition will enable Agensys to become the cornerstone of the company's biologics efforts and will allow the Agensys team to accelerate its discovery and commercial efforts while building its profile as a global leader in biologics and oncology.

Agensys, originally known as UroGenesys, was created with $8 million in seed money from private donors and "angel" investors, many of whom were grateful patients of the UCLA physicians who had helped spur the development of novel, gene-based therapies for prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men.

"As clinicians and scientists, we wanted to build on the discoveries made in our individual labs to help move cancer research forward from the bench to the bedside," said Belldegrun, founding chairman of Agensys and professor and chief of urologic oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine. He is also a researcher with the Jonsson Cancer Center.

The UCLA scientists worked with former president and CEO of Teledyne Technologies Donald B. Rice, who became CEO of Agensys. They were joined in 1999 by Aya Jakobovits, who helped develop monoclonal antibody technology at the company. Today, Agensys specializes in the discovery of proprietary targets for a variety of cancer indications and in antibody product development, manufacturing and clinical testing.

Technology developed at UCLA using lines of patented Xenograft mice that can carry and grow human tumors has led to cutting-edge research and drug development for prostate, kidney, bladder and other urologic indications. According to Owen Witte, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and founding chairman of the Agensys scientific advisory board, the technology has also been applied to a variety of other types of cancer — including pancreatic, lung, colon, breast and ovarian cancers — which inspired the company's name change to Agensys in 2001.

"We are pleased that our faculty — in addition to regular duties pursuing research, patient care and teaching — were able to bond together and start this biotech company that is now well positioned to become a major player in Los Angeles and the world for drug development," said Jean DeKernion, chief of urology at the Geffen School of Medicine and a founding director of Agensys.

UCLA was an initial partner in Agensys. Several patents — including those for the Xenograft line series and the prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) tumor target developed by the UCLA founders of Agensys — were licensed from UCLA to the company. Today, more than 300 patents have been generated from the tumor model, some of which have been licensed to pharmaceutical companies around the world.

In addition, the fundamental patent for PSCA, a cell surface marker overexpressed in prostate cancer patients, was also licensed and serves as the basis for the initial products in the Agensys pipeline. In a groundbreaking step for the university, UCLA took equity as partial consideration for this licensing agreement.

"The creation of Agensys exemplifies the creativity and drive of UCLA's faculty entrepreneurs," said Kathryn Atchison, UCLA vice provost for intellectual property and industry relations. "UCLA's premier scientists represent the new scientists of the 21st century. They act not only as scientists to create new knowledge, they also work as entrepreneurs to assure that breakthrough technology moves toward product development."

Venture capital investments in Agensys have come from premier groups such as Orbimed Associates, Alta Partners, Bear Sterns Health Innoventures, JAFCO, H&Q Healthcare, Duquesne Capital Management Co. and HBM Bioventures.