Abgenix And Dyax To Collaborate On Novel Antibody Technology

09-Jan-2001

Abgenix, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABGX) and Dyax Corp. (Nasdaq: DYAX) announced today that they have entered into a collaboration to develop new technology for discovering and developing human antibody therapeutics. Under the collaboration, the Companies will combine Abgenix’s XenoMouse™ technology with Dyax’s proprietary phage display technology to create libraries of human antibody sequences. With the new libraries, the Companies expect to be able to rapidly generate novel antibody sequences for multiple types of therapeutic targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Abgenix and Dyax will share equally in the costs of creating the new antibody libraries. Both companies have the right to use antibodies discovered from the libraries for in-house research use and are entitled to select a number of therapeutic product candidates from the libraries. The agreement additionally provides that for any antibody product developed, each Company will pay reciprocal commercialization fees to the other party. Financial terms of the collaboration are not disclosed.

By applying Dyax’s phage display technology subsequent to XenoMouse immunization, it will be possible to create complex libraries of high affinity antibodies. Panels of XenoMouse-derived phage display libraries could serve as a source for the rapid discovery of large numbers of fully human high affinity antibodies for any given antigen target. Such antibodies could have utility either as therapeutic candidates or as highly specific reagents for expediting the drug development process.

"Abgenix is pleased to be collaborating with Dyax, a recognized leader in phage display technology, in an effort to advance antibody discovery technologies," said R. Scott Greer, chairman and CEO of Abgenix. "The combination of our XenoMouse technology with Dyax’s phage display technology potentially creates a powerful new tool for drug discovery. We envision this new technology being deployed in our genomics-based antibody discovery program."

"This collaboration represents Dyax’s continued commitment to the development of new antibody technologies and therapeutic antibody product leads," said Henry Blair, chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dyax Corp. "By combining our proprietary phage display library technology with Abgenix’s XenoMouse platform, we establish a genuine synergy for discovering novel antibody compounds that could lead us to new products. We believe that this alliance with Abgenix, a leading developer of human monoclonal antibodies, is a valuable step in our strategy to streamline the steps from lead compound discovery to commercialization."

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/635/abgenix-and-dyax-to-collaborate-on-novel-antibody-technology.html