News
Company News: InDex Pharmaceuticals and Almirall enter into a license agreement for European rights of the phase III drug candidate Kappaproct®
InDex Pharmaceuticals and Almirall announced today that they have signed a license agreement for the European marketing rights to the drug candidate Kappaproct®. Under the terms of the agreement, InDex is eligible for an upfront payment as well as success driven milestone payments with a total deal value that could exceed EUR100M. InDex is also entitled to receive double digit royalties from Almirall on the European net sales of Kappaproct®.
InDex Pharmaceutical’s lead drug candidate Kappaproct® is a DNA-based immunomodulatory sequence (DIMS) that targets the toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9). Kappaproct is a potential treatment for severe Ulcerative Colitis (UC), a debilitating, chronic inflammation of the large intestine. The results from the ongoing Phase III trial COLLECT are expected in mid-2014.
Company News: Curetis Obtains Key Patent for Unyvero™ Technology
– Australian patent office grants patent for integrated amplification and detection in Unyvero™ cartridges
– Patent covers unique combination of end-point PCR with array-based detection
Curetis AG, a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced that it has been granted a core technology patent by IP Australia, the Australian patent office, for its Unyvero™ platform technology. The patent, “Reaction Vessel For PCR Device and Method of Performing PCR,” is the first of several core technology patents filed by Curetis. Its claims cover PCR chamber vessels allowing the integrated amplification and detection of DNA sequences. Curetis has submitted patent applications covering this technology in other key regions, including Europe, the U.S. and Japan. The Company expects these additional patents to be granted in the near future.
Further patents covering additional aspects of the Unyvero™ Solution, e.g. the unique sample lysis technology, are pending.
Company News: New Clinical Data on Cancer Vaccine ISA101 to Be Presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2014
ISA Pharmaceuticals B.V., a clinical-stage immunotherapy company focusing on rationally designed therapeutic vaccines against cancer and persistent viral infections, today announced that principal investigator Prof. Sjoerd van der Burg, Ph.D., will present new clinical data on ISA101 at this year’s American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. ISA101 is a therapeutic cancer vaccine for the treatment of high-risk, HPV16-induced diseases.
The presentation titled “Synergistic effects of properly timed HPV16 SLP vaccination during standard carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy in animals and patients with metastatic cervical carcinoma“ will be given at the Minisymposium MS.IM02.01 “Immune-based Therapies: Responses, Biomarkers, and Mechanisms” on Monday, April 07, 2014, at 3:20 PM in Room 6CF at the San Diego Convention Center.
The abstract # 2938 is available at the AACR website www.aacr.org.
Company News: ProBioGen and Merus Sign Deal on GlymaxX® ADCC Enhancement Technology
– GlymaxX® Manufacturing Technology Improves Bispecific Antibody Activity for Solid Tumor Treatment –
ProBioGen AG and Merus B.V. today announced that the companies have signed a non-exclusive commercial option and license agreement on ProBioGen’s GlymaxX® fucose-engineering technology. Under the terms of the agreement, ProBioGen is granting Merus the non-exclusive right to use the GlymaxX® technology to enhance the ADCC (Antibody-Dependent Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity) activity of one of its lead products, a bispecific anti-cancer antibody. The license is covering clinical development and production. Financial details have not been disclosed.
The GlymaxX® technology for the production of afucosylated antibodies and proteins is based on the stable integration of a heterologous enzyme into any antibody producer cell line, leading to the interference with the cells’ intracellular fucose biosynthesis pathway. As a unique feature differentiating it from other approaches, the GlymaxX® technology can be applied to both novel and already existing antibody producer cell lines and entire antibody expression and discovery platforms without negatively affecting their productivity. Moreover, it is simple, rapid, potent and universally applicable.