Jan 7 2010
Prolias, a biotechnology company working to discover and develop novel therapeutic proteins and antibodies for treatment of disease, today announced a strategic acquisition of technology from the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI). The new technology will extend Prolias’ discovery platform, FIoNATM, by providing a platform for the creation of fully human, recombinant antibodies from diverse, endogenous antibody sources.
“This acquisition gives Prolias access to a method of developing full human antibodies to the novel targets we have discovered via our existing FioNA technology. This provides us with the ability to discover new targets and develop antibodies to those targets in a seamless manner.”
Dr. Jonathan Gottlieb, Director of Technology Transfer and Commercialization at UMBI, stated, “In the realm of antibody therapeutics, fully human antibodies are the preferable modality. This novel approach offers an alternative to phage libraries.” Joe Hernandez, Chairman of Prolias, stated “This acquisition gives Prolias access to a method of developing full human antibodies to the novel targets we have discovered via our existing FioNA technology. This provides us with the ability to discover new targets and develop antibodies to those targets in a seamless manner.”
The newly acquired technology, developed by Dr. George Lewis and colleagues at UMBI, provides Prolias with the means to generate fully human antibodies from naïve B cells in vitro. Advantages of the in vitro system are that it generates fully human antibodies without direct immunization of any patient or human individual, and antibodies can be created from readily accessible tissues such as human peripheral blood.
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