Nijmegen, The Netherlands – March 14, 2006 – Syntarga B.V. today announced that it has signed a license agreement with the Georg-August University and Professor Lutz F. Tietze in Göttingen, Germany to obtain rights to potent cell-killing drugs. MBM ScienceBridge GmbH, the technology transfer organization of the University of Göttingen, has been instrumental in negotiating the agreement. Under the agreement, Syntarga will have exclusive, worldwide rights to manufacture, sublicense, and commercialize conjugated products incorporating the highly active anti-cancer agents claimed by the Georg-August University and Professor Tietze. Syntarga will incorporate the synthetic drugs, members of the class of CC-1065 and the duocarmycins, in novel Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) and other types of conjugates for the treatment of cancer. Using the cutting edge linker technologies developed by Syntarga, highly potent cell-killing compounds come within reach of becoming the basis for anti-tumor therapies. Using the appropriate linker technology, the ADC approach exploits the tumor-targeting capability of monoclonal antibodies to deliver these drugs specifically to the tumor site. As a consequence, healthy cells are spared from their devastating effects, whereas cancer cells are efficiently killed. Financial details of the agreement are not disclosed.
