Medarex and Avalon Announce Antibody Deal
Thursday October 30, 6:01 am ET
PRINCETON, N.J., and GERMANTOWN, Md., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Medarex, Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDX - News) and Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have entered into an agreement under which the two companies will collaborate on the planned development of antibody products. Under the agreement, the two companies expect to share equally the cost and responsibility of the development of antibody products. In addition, the two companies plan to jointly commercialize any antibody products resulting from this collaboration.
Using its industrialized cytogenetics and gene-expression platforms, Avalon has identified targets representing what it believes are the key genes that are over-expressed and amplified in cancers. Medarex plans to use its UltiMAb Human Antibody Development System(SM) to generate antibodies to the identified disease targets. Avalon and Medarex intend to develop these antibodies for therapeutic intervention.
"Avalon is pleased to be partnering with Medarex, a proven leader in the field of monoclonal antibody therapeutics," said Ken Carter, President and CEO of Avalon Pharmaceuticals. "Our systematic approach to target discovery has produced a large pipeline of novel oncology targets, and we believe that this collaboration with Medarex will accelerate the development of these targets into antibody-based oncology therapeutics."
"We look forward to pairing Avalon's target identification technology with our UltiMAb(TM) system for the generation of novel therapeutic antibodies," said Donald L. Drakeman,
President and CEO of Medarex.
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About Avalon Pharmaceuticals
Avalon Pharmaceuticals utilizes unique and proprietary forward chemical genomics-based methods to accelerate the discovery of novel targets and drugs. Avalon's unique capabilities in cytogenetics and gene expression analysis allow Avalon to rapidly discover and validate novel oncology targets. For the discovery of small molecules Avalon utilizes a comprehensive systems approach, enabling more informed decisions at earlier stages in the drug discovery process. These innovative techniques allow for the rapid identification of lead compounds through an enriched understanding of the mechanism of action within diseased cells, leading to accelerated medicinal chemistry driven lead optimization programs and clinical development. This revolutionary systems approach is applicable across multiple disease areas. Currently, Avalon is focusing its efforts to produce the next generation of cancer medicines. For more information please visit www.avalonrx.com.
Avalon Pharmaceuticals was established in 1999 and is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland. |
