AVANT Immunotherapeutics receives $6 million payment from Novartis AG for TP10 license.AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc., Needham, MA, announced Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland, has made a $6 million payment to the company in connection with the license for use of TP 10 in the field of transplantation, and an equity investment in the company. The payment follows Novartis' decision to exercise its option to license TP10 after extensive preclinical testing of the drug in their transplantation models. AVANT also announced it has completed enrollment in an open-label, Phase II trial of TP10, in infants (under 12 months of age) undergoing cardiac surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass cardiopulmonary bypass n. A procedure to circulate and oxygenate the blood during heart surgery involving the diversion of blood from the heart and lungs through a heart-lung machine and the return of oxygenated blood to the aorta. (CPB CPB see cardiopulmonary bypass. CPB Cardiopulmonary bypass. See Port-Access cardiopulmonary bypass. ). The objective of the study is to evaluate the safety of TP10 and its potential to reduce the consequences of reperfusion injury reperfusion injury damage to renal blood vessels during periods of hypotension does not become apparent until reperfusion occurs in the recovery stage of the vascular incident. and to improve post-operative outcomes in the infants. The trial is being conducted at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH. The company says TP10, the product name for soluble Complement Receptor 1 (sCR1), is the first product candidate among a new class of therapeutics AVANT is developing to inhibit inappropriate activation of complement. Complement is a family of immune system immune system Cells, cell products, organs, and structures of the body involved in the detection and destruction of foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. Immunity is based on the system's ability to launch a defense against such invaders. proteins that circulate in the blood and provide a defense against foreign materials. Excessive complement activation, however, is involved in tissue and organ damage associated with transplantation, ischemia-reperfusion injury (cardiac surgery, heart attack, stroke), and chronic inflammatory disease (rheumatoid arthritis rheumatoid arthritis Chronic, progressive autoimmune disease causing connective-tissue inflammation, mostly in synovial joints. It can occur at any age, is more common in women, and has an unpredictable course. , lupus lupus (l  `pəs), noninfectious chronic disease in which antibodies in an individual's immune system attack the body's own substances. , multiple sclerosis).
Contact: AVANT - (781) 433-0771, web site: www.avantimmune.com |
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