Heidelberg, Germany - February 09, 2009 - Affimed Therapeutics AG, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of antibody therapeutics, today announced the start of a collaboration project with Bayer Schering Pharma AG, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and other partners within the Molecular Imaging Technology Initiative launched by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (“BMBF”). Affimed will receive a funded grant totaling more than €550.000 to carry out its part of the project.
BMBF supports the Molecular Imaging Technology Initiative for the development of new diagnostic methods and imaging technologies for clinical use and pharmaceutical applications.
Within this collaboration, Affimed will identify and isolate new molecules binding to membrane-associated targets on tumour tissues, using its highly diverse human antibody libraries. The optimised binding molecules in their final format will be further characterized in vitro by the other above mentioned collaboration partners. The main goal is to find new diagnostic tracer molecules for use in imaging technologies, but identified molecules could also be used for in vitro diagnostic purposes or the development of new pharmaceutical therapeutics.
“We are delighted about being chosen for this collaboration,” said Prof. Melvyn Little, Chief Scientific Officer of Affimed. “Affimed’s antibody discovery engine is one of the most powerful in industry and we are confident that with this funding we will be able to generate novel tumour specific binding proteins that may have diagnostic or even therapeutic use.”
About Affimed Therapeutics AG
Affimed is a private biopharmaceutical company based in Heidelberg, Germany specializing in the development of recombinant antibodies - the fastest growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry. Affimed was founded in May 2000 by Professor Melvyn Little as a spin-off of his group »Recombinant Antibodies« at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg. By utilizing its broad portfolio of proprietary, in-house technology platforms together with crucial enabling freedom-to-operate licenses, the company has been able to establish a pre-clinical product pipeline of promising novel product candidates mainly for indications in oncology and autoimmune diseases. To learn more about Affimed please visit www.affimed.com.
