Ambrx will receive additional development payments with Bristol-Meyers’ initiation of the Phase 1 clinical trial for Relaxin

Ambrx Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing protein therapeutics, has recently announced that Bristol-Meyers Squibb has initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial in order to evaluate the safety, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of Relaxin, which is a long-acting and a potential heart failure treatment.

Reportedly, long-acting Relaxin happens to be an investigational biologic that is produced using the proprietary expanded genetic code platform from Ambrx. Heart failure affects 15 million people around the world and is a life-threatening and debilitating health condition.

President and CEO of Ambrx, Dr. Feng Tian said that the company believes long-acting Relaxin signifies a new therapeutic option to treat heart failure. The new trial is the second program from the company’s collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb which has been able to reach clinical testing, both of which have been enabled by the company’s platform technology.

The first program is a long acting FGF21 which is in Phase 2b to treat NASH. Both of these programs carry substantial value to Ambrx and the company appreciates Bristol-Myers Squibb as their partner, Tian added.

According to reports, under the 2011 Collaboration and License Agreement for Relaxin with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ambrx will be paid a milestone payment with the initiation of the study. The terms of the agreement list that Ambrx will be eligible to receive additional payment for development including the royalties on annual net sales for any products related to Relaxin.

Apparently, Relaxin’s derivatives were developed using the expanded genetic code platform tech of Ambrx which incorporates non-native amino acid in the hormones. The non-natural amino acid is often used as chemical modification site for the engineering of precise protein which enhances Relaxin’s pharmaceutical or therapeutic properties and in this case, extends the circulating half-life of the hormone.

Source Credit- http://ambrx.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Ambrx-BMS-Relaxin_-Ph1-Ambrx_final_new_BMS-edit.pdf