MolMed and AbCheck sign a three-year Master Agreement for the development of new CARs targeting novel tumor antigens
29 June 2018 - 12:34AM
The collaboration with AbCheck will allow MolMed to
enlarge its proprietary CAR pipeline for both liquid and solid
malignancies
Milan (Italy) and Plzen (Czech Republic), June
28th 2018 - MolMed S.p.A. (MLMD.MI), a medical biotechnology
company focusing on research, development, manufacturing, and
clinical validation of cell & gene therapies to treat cancer
and rare diseases and AbCheck s.r.o., a technology company focusing
on the discovery and optimization of high-quality human antibodies,
today announced that they have entered into a three-year Master
Agreement aimed at providing MolMed with selected and optimized
antibodies for the development of new Chimeric Antigen Receptors
(CARs), targeting both liquid and solid tumors.
Under the agreement, AbCheck will use its
proprietary discovery platform to select, optimize and deliver
multiple human single-chain variable fragments (scFvs),
specifically recognizing each MolMed target candidate. ScFvs are
the extracellular regions of the CAR responsible for antigen
recognition and binding, conferring specificity to the CAR.
The new and optimized scFvs delivered by AbCheck
will allow MolMed to expand its proprietary pipeline in both
autologous CAR-T and future allogenic CAR-NK platforms.
Riccardo Palmisano, MolMed CEO, commented: "This
new collaboration plays a key role to complete the picture of the
planned and announced enlargement of our CAR pipeline. Leveraging
on the unique experience that we developed on CAR T CD44v6, now
close to clinical stage in acute myeloid leukemia and multiple
myeloma and on the recently signed partnership with Glycostem, with
this agreement with AbCheck, a company with extensive expertise in
antibodies selection and boasting partnerships with relevant
companies and institutions in the CAR field, MolMed is fully
prepared to build a robust autologous and allogeneic original CAR T
pipeline, able to target both liquid and solid tumors".
Volker Lang, Managing Director of AbCheck,
added: "AbCheck is recognized for its proven capability to reliably
deliver high-quality human antibodies suitable for clinical
development. We are very pleased to employ our unique technology
suite to support MolMed's dedicated team in adding novel
therapeutic options to its diverse pipeline. Both CAR-Ts and
CAR-NKs represent promising novel immuno-oncology approaches and we
are confident that AbCheck's abilities in antibody discovery and
optimization will be an important asset in developing such
approaches."
About AbCheck
AbCheck s.r.o. discovers and optimizes human
antibodies leveraging several proprietary platforms including in
vitro and in vivo technologies. We use phage/yeast display
libraries (AbSieve), mass humanization and antibody optimization
(AbAccel) to provide high quality leads. Our technology platform
can be used in conjunction with all antibody designs and allows
selection of optimized leads from a huge number of variants.
Flexibly adapting to our partners' needs, we offer a variety of
business models, including deals without royalties. AbCheck has
proven its capabilities in multiple partnerships throughout the US
and Europe. AbCheck is a wholly owned subsidiary of Affimed GmbH.
For more information, please visit http://abcheck.eu.
About MolMed
MolMed S.p.A. is a biotechnology company focused
on research, development, manufacturing and clinical validation of
innovative anticancer therapies. MolMed's product portfolio
includes proprietary anti-tumor therapies in clinical and
preclinical development: Zalmoxis® (TK) is a cell therapy based on
donor T cells genetically engineered to enable bone marrow
transplants from partially compatible donors for patients with
high-risk hematological malignancies, eliminating post-transplant
immunosuppression prophylaxis and inducing a rapid immune
reconstitution. Zalmoxis® received Orphan Drug Designation and is
currently in Phase III in a high-risk population of acute leukemia
patients, but has already obtained a Conditional Marketing
Authorization by the European Commission in the second half of 2016
as well as reimbursement conditions in Italy at the end of 2017 and
in Germany at the beginning of 2018. Still focusing on this cell
& gene technology, the company is developing a therapy based on
Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR), specifically the CAR-T CD44v6, an
immune gene therapy project, currently in advanced preclinical
development, potentially effective for hematological malignancies
and several solid epithelial tumors. MolMed is also the first
company in Europe to have obtained the GMP manufacturing
authorization for cell & gene therapies for its proprietary
products (Zalmoxis®) as well as for third parties and/or in
partnership (Strimvelis, a GSK gene therapy for the ADA-SCID). With
reference to GMP development and manufacturing activities for third
parties, MolMed signed numerous partnership agreements with leading
European and US companies. In the framework of innovative
anticancer therapies, MolMed's pipeline also includes NGR-hTNF, a
therapeutic agent for solid tumors investigated in a broad clinical
program, involving more than 1,000 treated patients. MolMed,
founded in 1996 as an academic spin-off of the San Raffaele
Scientific Institute, is listed on the main market (MTA) of the
Milan stock exchange managed by Borsa Italiana since March 2008.
MolMed is headquartered and based in Milan, at the San Raffaele
Biotechnology Department (DIBIT) and has an operating unit at
OpenZone in Bresso.
For further information:
Dr. Volker LangManaging DirectorAbCheck s.r.o.+420 378
051500v.lang@abcheck.eu
Ilaria CandottiInvestor Relations & Communication
ManagerMolMed S.p.A.+39 02
21277.205investor.relations@molmed.com
Marcella RuggieroPress agentSEC Relazioni Pubbliche e
Istituzionali s.r.l.+39 02 6249991+39 335
214241ruggiero@secrp.com
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