Macular degeneration, a poorly treated condition, is the most common cause of vision loss in people over 60, affecting 20-25 million people worldwide. It is characterized by abnormal and uncontrolled vessel growth in the eye.
In the collaboration, Immusol will contribute its expertise in ophthalmology and intellectual property rights covering the use of antagonists against a biological target identified to play an important role in the underlying pathological process of AMD.
BioInvent will contribute its knowledge and experience in angiogenesis, immunology and therapeutic antibody discovery and development. The companies will share costs and revenues in further development and commercialization.
“We are happy to work with BioInvent to leverage BioInvent’s antibody expertise in an important disease area. By developing antibodies against a non-VEGF target with proven preclinical efficacy, we hope to tackle wet AMD from a different angle,” Dr Flossie Wong-Staal, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of R&D at Immusol.