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| PolyTherics CEO John Burt |
U.K. outsourcers PolyTherics and Antitope have merged to pool their R&D resources, christening the combined company Abzena and targeting the bustling biomedical hub of Cambridge for new headquarters.
The two companies merged in July and will now spend the summer consolidating their operations at Cambridge's Babraham Research Campus, settling in among top-flight research institutions and some of the world's largest drug developers. PolyTherics CEO John Burt will helm the combined Abzena, while Antitope founder Matthew Baker will serve as chief science officer.
PolyTherics touts its antibody-drug conjugate technology as ideal for optimizing target therapies, while Antitope specializes in protein engineering to create humanized antibodies and cell lines for manufacture. Combined, the two believe they present a one-stop shop for drugmakers looking to improve their development operations.
"We believe there is a real opportunity for the company to capitalize on an increasing need for high quality outsourced early-stage R&D capabilities and for Abzena to become a leading provider within this global industry," Burt said in a statement. "In PolyTherics and Antitope we have well-established, respected brands and a broad range of complementary services and technologies."
The pair has built up a global customer base over the past decade, including the world's top 10 pharma, biotech and academic outfits, according to Abzena.
- read the announcement