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news.Intercell has signed an agreement with Cytos Biotechnology to acquire platform technology for monoclonal antibody discovery. The technology is based on expression cloning of monoclonal antibodies from human B-cells and enables the identification of anti-infective antibodies to prevent and treat infectious diseases.
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Under the agreed terms Intercell is expected to pay EUR15m to Cytos. Intercell is expected to own certain unpartnered monoclonal antibody assets, including promising pre-clinical anti-infective antibody candidates discovered by Cytos.
The scientists, who have developed the technology at Cytos, are expected to be employed by Intercell. The antibody technology complements Intercell’s technology platforms and opens new medically and commercially relevant applications for Intercell’s Antigen Identification Program (AIP).
The companies claimed that AIP has delivered vaccine candidates against Staphylococcus aureus (Phase II/III) and Pneumococcus (Phase I) infections, among others, and has also been the basis for partnerships in the antibody field with Merck and Kyowa Hakko Kirin in these indications, respectively.
In its future antibody discovery activities Intercell is expected to focus on medically and commercially attractive AIP derived disease targets including Group B Streptococcus and bacteria involved in hospital acquired infections.
Gerd Zettlmeissl, CEO of Intercell, said: “Cytos’ antibody technology complements our R&D technology platform and enables pipeline progression within our existing portfolio.”
Wolfgang Renner, CEO of Cytos, said: “Intercell, as an anti-infective company, is positioned through its Antigen Identification Program (AIP), to capture the full value of our monoclonal antibody discovery platform. We are very glad that our technology will support Intercell in discovering important new monoclonal antibodies to combat infectious diseases.
“Antibodies can be extremely effective for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. For example, the increasing rate of antibiotic resistance among certain types of nosocomial pathogens makes it extremely difficult to control hospital acquired infectious diseases in critical situations.”
Eszter Nagy, senior vice president of research at Intercell, said: “Anti-infective antibodies, well known in the medical arena before the advent of antibiotic treatments, have experienced a comeback and monoclonal antibody products are expected to contribute to the control of severe infections that otherwise might be untreatable in the future.”