Jan. 22/PRNewswire/ -- XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd ("XTL") (LSE: XTL) and Dyax Corp
(Nasdaq: DYAX - news) announced today that they have entered into a collaborative
agreement to discover, develop and commercialize fully human monoclonal
antibodies for the treatment and/or prevention of selected fungal infections
and the treatment of selected cancers.
Under this collaboration, XTL and Dyax aim to bring together their two powerful and synergistic drug discovery platforms to rapidly identify and optimize human antibodies to certain fungal and cancer targets. Dyax will use its proprietary phage display technology for target discovery and human monoclonal antibody optimization, while XTL, through its proprietary TrimeraXTL technology, will generate an amplified human immune response for phage library construction. XTL's in vivo TrimeraXTL technology also will be used to provide clinical validation of any resulting human antibodies. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will share equally all development funding expenses and any outlicensing or other revenues.
``Leveraging these two antibody discovery and development technologies provides XTL with a tremendous opportunity to expand our pipeline of infectious disease products,'' said Martin Becker, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of XTL. ``Combining Trimera's capabilities to provide large numbers of high affinity, disease-directed human antibody-producing cells with Dyax's phage display technology's efficiency, speed and diversity should ensure that we obtain higher numbers of quality therapeutic antibodies. We look forward to working with Dyax, the recognized leader in phage display technology.''
``This joint discovery and development collaboration provides Dyax with the ability to develop, screen and validate new antibody products for its pipeline,'' said Henry Blair, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dyax Corp. ``By using our proprietary phage display library technology with XTL's Trimera platform, we can establish a genuine synergy for rapidly discovering and validating novel antibody compounds and provide Dyax an entry into infectious disease therapeutics.''
XTL Biopharmaceuticals develops novel therapeutics to treat life- threatening infectious diseases using fully human monoclonal antibodies and small molecule drugs. XTL's competitive advantage lies in its ability to leverage both its proprietary human tissue-based in vivo disease models and fully human monoclonal antibodies to validate and develop promising drug candidates. The Company's growing pipeline of therapies, designed to combat chronic viral infections, drug-resistant bacteria and serious systemic fungal infections, comprises internally developed products as well as those being co- developed with a number of biopharmaceutical company partners. For more information about XTL, visit the Company's web site at www.xtlbio.com.
Dyax Corp is a biopharmaceutical company that has developed and patented phage display technology with applications in the discovery and development of a broad range of compounds for the treatment and diagnosis of diseases and for the purification and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals and other chemicals. Through the use of phage display technology, Dyax's scientists, collaborators and licensees seek to discover peptides and proteins, including human antibodies, that bind tightly to specific molecular targets. The Company also develops, manufactures and sells chromatography separations systems and products under the Biotage trade name. For additional information, visit www.dyax.com. |
