Amorfix Life Sciences and QED Bioscience announced today that they have entered into an agreement to develop high-affinity monoclonal antibodies against a number of targets for cancer. Under the agreement, QED will generate monoclonal antibodies against several disease specific epitopes (DSE's) on misfolded CD38 protein. The DSE's were identified by Amorfix using their proprietary ProMIS(TM) computational platform discovery technology.
"CD38 is a well characterized target on the surface of a variety of lymphoid tumors including multiple myeloma, AIDS-related lymphomas and post-transplant lymphoproliferations and is part of a complex network producing growth and survival signals to tumor cells. As such, CD38 represents an attractive target for therapeutic intervention with a specific antibody," said Dr. Robert Gundel, Chief Executive Officer at Amorfix. "Using our ProMIS(TM) technology, we have identified DSE's on misfolded CD38 that may provide the required specificity for our antibody to target and kill tumor cells expressing this protein while leaving normal cells intact. In addition, CD38 can be used as a prognostic marker which fits well into our strategy of developing companion diagnostics along with novel therapeutic antibodies. We are very pleased to be collaborating with QED Bioscience on this important and exciting project."
"We are very happy for the opportunity to add our expertise in monoclonal antibody development to the outstanding research being conducted at Amorfix" said Dr. Eileen Skaletsky, President and CEO of QED Bioscience. "Their technology is ideal for generating unique antibody targets, and we are looking forward to a rewarding and fruitful collaboration."
Researchers receive NIH grant to help develop gene therapy for HIV