Basel, Switzerland, 8th October, 2012: 4-Antibody AG today announced two additional milestone payments from the company’s existing collaboration with Human Genome Sciences (HGS) to discover and develop fully human therapeutic antibodies. Specific details of the payments, which were made prior to completion of HGS’ recent acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline plc, were not disclosed.
The collaboration with HGS began in August 2011 and focused on applying 4-Antibody’s proprietary, high throughput, in vitro Retrocyte Display® technology (Retroviral B lymphocyte Display) for the rapid discovery of fully human antibodies against novel HGS targets. The Retrocyte Display technology is a potent tool for high quality therapeutic antibody discovery using a rapid flow cytometry approach. Full-length immunoglobulin antibody libraries are expressed in mammalian B-lineage cells, the cell designed by nature for optimal antibody display, resulting in ‘better-behaved’, fully human antibodies.
Dr Robert Burns, 4-Antibody’s CEO, said: “The way in which the HGS collaboration progressed demonstrates 4-Antibody’s ability to use its technology platform to generate high quality leads direct from screening. Companies which are target rich, are key collaborators for us as they allow us to put the Retrocyte Display platform to work in multi-target projects. At the same time, we will continue to seek out service deals around our technology which will provide access to our platform to the wider market through our recently established partnership with Evotec.”
Further Information:
Dr Robert Burns
CEO
4-Antibody AG
t: +41-61-633-20-60
e: robert.burns@4-antibody.com
Dr Robert Mayer
Account Director
College Hill Life Sciences
t: +49-89-5238-8030
e: robert.mayer@collegehill.com
About 4-Antibody AG
4-Antibody is a biopharmaceutical company with a powerful fully-human antibody drug-discovery technology platform which is generating an emerging pipeline of antibody therapeutics. The proprietary discovery engine is the in vitro Retrocyte Display® technology, a fast and highly efficient source of antibody drug candidates. Retrocyte Display generates high quality therapeutic antibody drug candidates quickly using a rapid, high-throughput, flow cytometry approach incorporating full-length IgG format human antibody libraries expressed in mammalian B cells. 4-Antibody provides access to its technologies to select pharmaceutical R&D collaborators and is also generating an in-house pipeline of antibody drugs. The Company’s lead development product is an anti-cytomegalovirus antibody drug. 4-Antibody is a private company with strong, commercially-experienced leadership located in Basel, Switzerland and Jena, Germany. For more information please visit: www.4-antibody.com
About Human Genome Sciences
Human Genome Sciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline plc, exists to place new therapies into the hands of those battling serious disease. For more information about HGS, please visit the Company’s web site at www.hgsi.com
