Cambridge Antibody Technology and Xerion Pharmaceuticals Expand Alliance Into Antibody Drug Development
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cambridge Antibody Technology (LSE: CAT;
Nasdaq: CATG) and Xerion Pharmaceuticals AG today announce that they have
entered into an agreement that paves the way for Xerion to develop and
commercialise human monoclonal antibody-based drugs. Under the terms of the
agreement, CAT has granted to Xerion options to take licences to develop and
commercialise antibodies derived from CAT's proprietary antibody phage display
libraries. These antibodies are directed against critical disease-associated
protein targets characterised using Xerion's proprietary Xstream(TM)
technologies. CAT will receive development based milestone payments and
royalties on antibody products developed by Xerion and its collaborators.
This agreement strengthens and expands the existing relationship between the
two companies established through a licence in June 2001 involving the
research use of CAT's proprietary antibody phage display libraries.
Subsequently, the companies initiated a joint research collaboration in 2002
to investigate the druggability of a target to treat allergic conditions.
Peter Chambre, CAT's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are impressed by Xerion's achievements to date with the CAT libraries and their continued commitment to target discovery and validation using our technology. The present agreement allows both parties to benefit from Xerion's strategy to build an antibody drug pipeline for itself and its partners."
"We are very pleased with today's extension of our relationship with CAT into drug development," said Markus Ewert, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Xerion. "We have very successfully and to our full satisfaction integrated and applied CAT's human antibody libraries to identify key disease targets. Xerion now can truly exploit its integrated drug discovery platform, Xstream(TM), to further create and commercialise antibody therapeutic drugs. In this way, we expect to generate significant value for both companies." ...
...Xerion Pharmaceuticals is building a pipeline of novel therapeutic targets and antibodies. To identify targets, the Company uniquely focuses on proteins, using proprietary technologies to selectively block their function in diseased cells thereby mimicking the activity of a drug. Xerion integrates this approach with the ability to rapidly generate therapeutic antibody leads. The Company is developing these targets and antibodies independently and in conjunction with partners with an emphasis on cancer indications. For additional information, please visit our website at www.xerion-pharma.com.
* Xerion is headquartered in Martinsried, Germany and its subsidiary Xerion Pharmaceuticals Inc. is based in Cambridge, MA, USA. The Company has license and collaborative agreements with Altana Pharma AG, Arius Research Inc., Cambridge Antibody Technology Ltd., Procorde GmbH, Xoma Ltd., and several research institutes |
