CAMBRIDGE, England, and HALLE (SAALE), Germany, July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) and Scil Proteins GmbH today announce that they have signed a cross-licence agreement, under which both parties obtain substantial freedom to conduct research under certain of each others’ intellectual property, as well as the right to develop a number of therapeutic, diagnostic and technical products. CAT obtains access to Scil Proteins’ Affilin(TM) technology (Scil Proteins’ proprietary scaffold technology), in the field of therapeutic indications and Scil Proteins gains rights to intellectual property in Ribosome Display controlled by CAT in the field of novel protein products.
Under the terms of the agreement, Scil Proteins obtains the right to use CAT’s intellectual property in Ribosome Display to create and commercialise an unlimited number of Affilin derived recombinant proteins for therapeutic, diagnostic and technical applications. In addition Scil Proteins receives the right to sublicense the products to third parties.
CAT obtains not only the right to develop and commercialise therapeutic Affilin based products using Scil Proteins’ proprietary scaffold technology, including the right to sublicense to collaboration partners, but can also use Scil Proteins’ protein refolding know-how to enforce CAT’s product developments.
Dr Ulrike Fiedler, Scil Proteins’ Managing Director, commented, “The agreement underscores the enormous potential of alternative non-immunoglobulin derived binding proteins, such as our Affilin molecules for the development of novel targeted biotherapeutics. Scil Proteins’ technology as well as CAT’s business fields are being complemented and can be expanded in a perfect way. The attractive financial terms enable both parties to pursue their future businesses with great flexibility”.
Dr Alex Duncan, CAT’s Senior Vice President Discovery commented, “We view this cross-licence agreement with Scil Proteins as important to our continuing commitment to increasing the range of technologies that CAT can apply to the development and commercialisation of therapeutic proteins. By working with companies such as Scil Proteins we aim to strengthen our leadership position in this field. CAT not only obtains access to new protein scaffold technology but also, through this agreement, cements a new relationship with a young technology company in a very exciting area. Both companies stand to benefit from this exchange of intellectual property and the ability to work more closely together”.
Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT): -- Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) is a biopharmaceutical company using its capabilities and technologies in the discovery and development of new and innovative antibody medicines in selected therapeutic areas to bring improvements to seriously ill patients’ lives. Following the recent acquisition of CAT by AstraZeneca, CAT is a subsidiary of the AstraZeneca group of companies. CAT employs around 300 people and is based near Cambridge, UK and in Palo Alto, USA. -- CAT is a leader in the discovery and development of human therapeutic antibodies and has an advanced proprietary platform technology for rapidly isolating human monoclonal antibodies using phage display and ribosome display systems. CAT has extensive phage antibody libraries, currently incorporating more than 100 billion distinct antibodies. These libraries form the basis for the Company’s strategy to develop a portfolio of antibody-based drugs. -- More information: www.cambridgeantibody.com Scil Proteins GmbH: -- Scil Proteins GmbH, based in Halle (Saale), Germany, is a biotechnology company focusing on exploiting its proprietary Affilin(TM) technology to discover, develop and commercialize a new generation of products based on human-derived binding proteins. As well as its commitment to biotherapeutics, Scil Proteins is further engaged in discovery and development of Affilin proteins for application in chromatography. -- Scil Proteins also has internationally recognized expertise in recombinant protein production, industrial process development and in vitro protein folding. This expertise is made available to customers via Scil Proteins Services, a service greatly acknowledged by many national and international customers. For more information, visit the company’s website at http://www.scilproteins.com.
Cambridge Antibody Technology
CONTACT: Rowena Gardner, Director of Corporate Communications, CambridgeAntibody Technology, +44-(0)-1223-471-471; or Scil Proteins GmbH, Tel:+49-(0)-345-2799633-0, or Fax: +49-(0)-345-2799633-2, orinfo@scilproteins.com ; or Chris Matthews, or Melanie Toyne-Sewell, orAndrew Jaques, all of Hogarth Partnership, Europe, +44-(0)-20-7357-9477, orBrad Miles, ext 17, media, of BMC Communications, US, for CambridgeAntibody Technology, +1-212-477-9007
