Parking a couple of Biovation releases, post the Epicyte deal, that I missed -
21st May 2001
BIOVATION FORMS COLLABORATION WITH CORIXA TO DESIGN NON-IMMUNOGENIC ANTIBODIES
Biovation of Aberdeen UK, a member of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany today announced the signing of a research agreement with Corixa Corporation under which Biovation will apply its proprietary technology, DeImmunisation, to design antibodies for potential commercial development. In return Biovation will earn research revenues. In the eent Corixa selects antibodies for further development, Biovation will receive licence fees and potential milestone payments and royalties in the event of product sales.
According to Frank Carr, President and CEO of Biovation, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to apply our DeImmunisation technology to programmes at Corixa and delighted to be formally working with such a highly regarded and innovative biotechnology company.
Biovation's proprietary technology, DeImmunisation, is designed to genetically engineer antibodies and other proteins for administration to humans without the side effects caused by rejection by the human immune system. DeImmunisation involves the identification and elimination of T cell epitopes in antibodies and other proteins , which can drive patient immune responses against these molecules. As such, the technology constitutes a more rational approach to development of therapeutic antibodies than previous humanisation technologies and also provides, for the first time, a means to engineer microbial proteins for human use.
Biovation is developing itself as an emerging company in the field of antibody and protein engineering. The therapeutic antibody market is a rapidly growing arena with over 70 monoclonal antibodies in development constituting more than 20% of drugs in development in the US. The market for therapeutic antibodies is estimated to grow to around $5 billion by 2005 highlighting the increasing development in this area.
Biovation is a protein engineering company which was acquired by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in October 2000. Biovation has successsfully partnered its DeImmunisation technology with companies in the US, Canada, Taiwan, Japan and Australia. The company prides itself on its entrepeneurial and innovative approach to the discovery and development of novel therapeutic molecules.
Additional information about Biovation is available at www.biovation.co.uk.
28th August 2001
BIOVATION AND MICROMET FORM COLLABORATION TO DESIGN NOVEL NON-IMMUNOGENIC PROTEIN THERAPEUTICS
Biovation of Aberdeen, UK, a member of the Merck KGaA group, and Micromet AG of Munich, Germany, today announce the signing of a research agreement under which Biovation will apply its proprietary technology, DeImmunisationTM, to novel therapeutic proteins designed by Micromet AG. In return, Biovation will earn research revenues. In the event Micromet selects proteins for further development, Biovation will receive license fees and potential milestone payments and royalties on product sales.
According to Dr Frank Carr, President and Chief Executive Officer of Biovation, “ We are delighted to be collaborating with Micromet, especially with their highly innovative technology for harnessing the immune system to fight disease. We look forward to being part of this exciting innovation.”
“Incorporating Biovation’s DeImmunisation technology will further enhance the clinical potential of our novel protein therapeutics by decreasing their potential immunogenicity and thereby improving pharmacological properties,“ Dr. Christian Itin, Vice President, Business and Corporate Development at Micromet commented.
DeImmunisation increases the clinical potential of antibody and protein therapeutics by eliminating /reducing the T-cell response caused when the therapeutic molecule is recognised as foreign by the patient’s immune system. The technology is based on ‘peptide threading’ and works by identifying potential T-cell epitopes on the therapeutic antibody or protein. T-cell epitopes are sites on the therapeutic molecule which can bind to MHC class II, triggering a T-cell mediated immune response. Once this potentially immunogenic region of the antibody is identified, it is removed from the molecule by single amino acid substitutions, thus eliminating / reducing the therapeutic antibody or protein’s immunogenicity and increasing its safety. This can be done without compromise to efficacy.... |
