Origen will use its avian transgenic technology to develop transgenic chickens, which can be immunized with any disease target of interest, including diseases such as cancer and autoimmunity.
Symphogen will apply its antibody discovery and expression platforms to create novel, recombinant fully human monoclonal and polyclonal antibody therapeutics against such targets. Both companies plan to employ the jointly developed transgenic technology to produce novel antibody therapeutics.
Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will provide funding for the development of transgenic, human antibody-expressing chickens using Origen’s avian transgenic technology. Origen will receive upfront license payments and further payments upon reaching defined R&D goals. In addition, Symphogen and Origen will pay each other royalties on products arising from the technology. Once human antibody-producing chickens are developed, both companies will hold rights to develop products from those birds.
Furthermore, Symphogen will have the right to purchase exclusive access to the collaboration technology for use to generate human recombinant antibody products. The two companies plan to address targets in the areas of infectious disease, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Kirsten Drejer, CEO of Symphogen. “The transgenic chicken to be developed by Origen will complement our existing discovery platform and provide us with the strategic freedom to develop recombinant fully human antibodies against any disease of interest, including cancer and autoimmune diseases, for our own product pipeline or together with our partners.”