MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Roche, the world’s largest biotechnology company, has acquired privately held biopharmaceutical company Therapeutic Human Polyclonals Inc. for $56.5 million.
THP, a California-based company with a subsidiary in Germany, is focused on research in human antibody technologies. The company has developed a unique transgenic mammalian platform to create human antibodies. The technology will enable the generation of both monoclonal and polyclonal antibody therapeutics with enhanced efficacy.
The acquisition of THP strengthens Roche’s expertise in therapeutic antibody research. Roche is a global leader in therapeutic antibodies with its cancer therapies MabThera®, Herceptin® and Avastin®. Roche plans to fully integrate THP into the Roche Pharma Center of Excellence for Protein Research organization in Penzberg, Germany.
“Co-founder Roland Buelow and I are delighted that Roche will be taking THP’s human antibody platform to the next stage,” said THP co-founder and chief executive officer Wim Van Schooten. “Roche is the ideal company for furthering development of this technology.”
Van Schooten and Buelow founded THP to develop and commercialize next-generation human antibody therapies with initial funding and incubation from Research Corporation Technologies Inc. in Tucson, Ariz. In 2002, SangStat Medical Corp. (acquired by Genzyme Corporation in Cambridge, Mass.) joined RCT in continuing to fund development of THP’s novel antibody platform.
Contacts Therapeutic Human Polyclonals Inc. Wim Van Schooten, CEO, 650-387-8155
