Athera receives support from FP7 for development of fully human antibody PC-mAb

Athera Biotechnologies AB today announced that future development costs of its fully human antibody PC-mAb up until proof-of-concept will be co-funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7) through a collaborative research grant. Karolinska Development AB (STO:KDEV) owns 65% of Athera Biotechnologies AB.

Athera's fully human monoclonal antibody PC-mAb is targeting phosphorylcholine and is being developed for the treatment of patients with an increased risk of atherosclerosis related cardiovascular events and death. This includes myocardial infarction patients and patients with peripheral arterial disease undergoing vein graft surgery.

"The grant underpins the level of innovation of the PC-mAb project and will substantially contribute to the pace of the future development", comments Torbjörn Bjerke, CEO of Karolinska Development.

The EUR 6m grant has been provided to the CARDIMMUN consortium, consisting of Athera, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Turku PET Center (Turku University), Clinical Trial Consultants (CTC) and Smerud Medical Research. The project has a total budget of nearly EUR 8m and will be running over three years, focusing on key preclinical activities and clinical trials aimed at demonstrating proof-of-concept of this new cardiovascular treatment. LUMC is the project coordinator and will be leading the project together with Athera.

"I am very pleased that Athera is part of the CARDIMMUN consortium and thereby receives support from the FP7. With this non-dilutive funding, Athera will be able to take its proprietary monoclonal antibody PC-mAb through major milestones", says Carina Schmidt, CEO of Athera Biotechnologies.

SOURCE Athera Biotechnologies AB