XOMA Wins Botulism Antitoxin Contract

XOMA Ltd. has been awarded a contract to develop broad-spectrum antitoxins for the treatment of botulism poisoning. The contract is valued at more than $28 million during a five-year period. To date, XOMA has entered into four contracts totaling $120 million with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to advance biodefense-related product development.

“The success of our prior NIAID contracts for anti-botulism antibody products to Types A, B, and E toxins demonstrates the utility of XOMA’s antibody development platform for biodefense applications,” said Patrick J. Scannon, M.D., Ph.D., XOMA’s executive vice president and chief scientific officer. “It provides a strong foundation for this new contract which will expand our efforts to include Type C and Type D antitoxins.”

XOMA’s first product candidate, XOMA 3AB, is an antibody co-mixture for Type A botulism poisoning. It is currently in a Phase I trials. XOMA also has preclinical product candidates for Type B and Type E botulism poisoning.