January 07, 2015 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tetragenetics Inc., an emerging biotechnology company engaged in the expression of ion channel drug targets, announced today that it will collaborate with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, on antibody drug discovery research.
"Isolating functional antibodies against these ion channel targets opens the possibility of developing therapeutic antibodies against this important target class, particularly when combining MedImmune's antibody discovery capabilities to the technology. We anticipate this will provide an important opportunity to develop new therapeutics to treat human diseases."
Specifically, Tetragenetics will use its proprietary ion channel production technology, SionX™, to produce up to five ion channel antigens for MedImmune's antibody drug discovery programs.
Ion channels are complex membrane proteins which are linked to a variety of human diseases, such as those involving inflammatory conditions. The use of Tetragenetics' technology to produce ion channel antigens will complement MedImmune's focus on antibody drug discovery, helping to develop new therapeutics targeting unmet medical needs.
Traditionally, ion channels have been difficult to express in standard cell lines and the low level of expression has made generation of antibodies against ion channels difficult. Using the Tetragenetics technology, high density expression of recombinant ion channels can be achieved which enables antibody drug discovery.
"Ion channels represent a diverse family of proteins, which have significant linkage to disease," said Herren Wu, Vice President, Research & Development, Global Head of Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering, MedImmune. "Isolating functional antibodies against these ion channel targets opens the possibility of developing therapeutic antibodies against this important target class, particularly when combining MedImmune's antibody discovery capabilities to the technology. We anticipate this will provide an important opportunity to develop new therapeutics to treat human diseases."
"It's exciting to be providing our partners with antigens using our proprietary ion channel production technology. Combining our unique antigens with MedImmune's advanced antibody discovery platforms and skills has the potential to significantly accelerate the discovery of new antibody therapeutics for a wide variety of diseases in which ion channels are implicated, such as those involving inflammatory conditions," noted Douglas Kahn, CEO of Tetragenetics.
MedImmune will be provided with target ion channel antigens on a non-exclusive basis. Tetragenetics will receive up-front license fees, research funding, and milestone payments associated with pre-clinical and clinical development as well as potential product sales.
About Tetragenetics: Tetragenetics has developed a proprietary suite of platform technologies: TetraExpress™, G-SOME™, and SionX™, which enable the rapid production of properly folded and functional proteins that are difficult to express in conventional systems. The company's proprietary technology is being utilized to develop ion channel antigens in membrane preparations and in purified form for use in antibody discovery and small molecule screening programs. For more information, please visit: www.tetragenetics.com.
Contacts
Tetragenetics
Suzanne Gibbons-Neff, 203-858-1325
[email protected]