Affitech Renews Exclusive Worldwide Phage Display License From DKFZ
Sunday April 9, 9:00 am ET
'Breitling' Patents Hold Key Position in Human Antibody Discovery Field
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 2006--The human antibody company, Affitech AS, announced today at BIO 2006 that they have renewed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with DKFZ (German Cancer Research Center) of Heidelberg, Germany for the antibody library display patents, otherwise known as "Breitling" IP family. These patents cover the use of full-length pIII phage protein as a scaffold in a phagemid vector, and are one of the fundamental patents for the phagemid display of antibody, antibody fragments and proteins. As the antibody therapeutic market continues to grow with a record number of candidates moving through pre-clinical and clinical trials, Affitech anticipates that all serious entrants in the antibody field will consider the use of these patents. This is backed by the fact that over the past couple of years, Affitech has successfully negotiated cross-licensing agreements involving Breitling IP with leading antibody companies such as Dyax and Xoma.
The renewed terms provide Affitech the worldwide exclusive license until the expiry of the patents in the respective territories, and include the capability of Affitech to sublicense the IP to any company or organization worldwide. No other terms of the agreement were disclosed.
Regarding the renewal of the Breitling IP licensing, Dr. Martin Welschof, Chief Executive Officer of Affitech commented: "We are delighted to have renewed this exclusive license and the accompanying sublicensing rights with DKFZ with whom we have had a long-standing relationship going back to the original development of phagemid-based antibody display system. The Breitling family occupies a key position in the antibody field. The IP applies not only to screening libraries, but extends to antibodies discovered and developed for use as diagnostics or therapeutics. With the announcement of this renewal, we expect further sublicensing agreements to follow those already signed with Dyax and Xoma."
The DKFZ agreement represents another milestone as Affitech continues to progress towards becoming a product-focused human antibody therapeutics company. Several of its in-house discovered antibodies generated by its pioneering CBAS(TM) (Cell Based Antibody Selection) technology are currently undergoing pre-clinical development... |
