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| Glycotope CEO Steffen Goletz |
Switzerland's Octapharma AG is paying €80 million to bag the exclusive worldwide license to certain IP behind Glycotope's recombinant technology as well as a minority stake in the German biotech.
Octapharma plans to kickstart some new development programs with the technology. Octapharma Chairman Wolfgang Marguerre noted that "access to Glycotope's Gex Cell Line Technology opens up a host of interesting and very promising opportunities for our recombinant pipeline."
"Octapharma's ongoing commitment to hemophilia research, combined with its experience in developing and marketing hemophilia and other blood protein factor products, makes them an excellent partner for our human blood coagulation portfolio, GlycoExpress technology and long-lasting technologies," said Glycotope CEO Steffen Goletz in a statement.
Glycotope was founded back in 2001 as a spinoff of the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, building its expertise in glycosylation of proteins. It now has facilities in Berlin and Heidelberg, with a big focus on so-called "bio-betters."
Back in early 2014, The Strüngmann group, a family firm led by German billionaires Thomas and Andreas Strüngmann, and the Eckert Life Science Accelerator put up $76 for Glycotope's lead antibody, PankoMab-GEX, and a me-better version of Erbitux dubbed CetuGEX. Panko-Mab is one of the company's GlycoBodies, antibodies which are designed to target tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens.
- here's the release