Cambridge Antibody and Dyax amend antibody product agreement.Cambridge Antibody Technology (Cambridge, England) and Dyax Corporation (Cambridge, MA) have amended their existing therapeutic and diagnostic antibody licensing agreement. The new agreement extends the arrangement that was previously announced in January 2003 and grants Dyax, amongst other benefits, an increased number of options for licences to develop therapeutic and diagnostic antibody products under Cambridge Antibody's patents for Dyax's own use and on behalf of its partners. Cambridge Antibody and Dyax have further agreed that, as a result of this agreement, royalties will not be due to Dyax in respect of HUMIRA. Peter Chambre, Cambridge Antibody's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are delighted to have expanded our agreement with Dyax and to have resolved the position with respect to HUMIRA." Henry E. Blair, Dyax's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented "We are very pleased to expand further our licensing arrangement with Cambridge Antibody. This expansion significantly increases the potential number of antibody products Dyax can discover both for our own pipeline and for collaborators." Cambridge Antibody is a leader in the discovery and development of human therapeutic antibodies and has an advanced proprietary platform technology for rapidly isolating human monoclonal antibodies This is a list of monoclonal antibodies, antibodies which are clones of a single parent cell. When used as medications, the generic names end in -mab (see "Nomenclature of monoclonal antibodies"). using phage display phage display n. A technique using recombinant DNA technology to create bacteriophages with a desired peptide embedded in the surface of their protein shells. and ribosome display systems. Cambridge Antibody has extensive phage phage: see bacteriophage. phage - A program that modifies other programs or databases in unauthorised ways; especially one that propagates a virus or Trojan horse. See also worm, mockingbird. The analogy, of course, is with phage viruses in biology. antibody libraries, currently incorporating more than 100 billion distinct antibodies. These libraries form the basis for the Company's strategy to develop a portfolio of antibody-based drugs. HUMIRA, their leading antibody, isolated and optimised in collaboration with Abbott has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), n.pr a unit of the Public Health Service created to protect the health of the nation against impure and unsafe foods, drugs, and cosmetics. for marketing in the United States as a treatment for 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. . Eight further Cambridge Antibody-derived human therapeutic antibodies are at various stages of clinical trials. There are five candidate therapeutic antibodies in pre-clinical development. Cambridge Antibody has alliances with a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to discover, develop and commercialise human monoclonal antibody-based products. Cambridge Antibody has co-development programmes with Amgen, Amrad, Elan and Genzyme. The company has also licensed its proprietary technologies to several companies. Cambridge Antibody's licensees include: Abbott, Amgen, Chugai, Human Genome Sciences Human Genome Sciences NASDAQ: HGSI is a biopharmaceutical corporation founded in 1992. Its stated purpose is to "discover, develop, manufacture and market innovative drugs that serve patients with unmet medical needs, with a primary focus on protein and antibody drugs. , Merck & Co, Pfizer and Wyeth Research. Dyax is principally focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutics for inflammatory conditions and in oncology. Dyax currently has two recombinant proteins in clinical development, DX-88 and DX-890. DX-88 is being studied in phase II clinical trials for the treatment of hereditary angioedema Hereditary angioedema A complement deficiency characterized by lymphatic vessel blockages that cause temporary swelling (edema) of areas of the skin, mucous membranes, and, sometimes, internal organs. Mentioned in: Complement Deficiencies in collaboration with Genzyme Corporation. Dyax is also studying DX-88 in a phase I/II clinical trial for use during 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. surgery. DX-890 is being studied in phase IIa clinical trials for the treatment of cystic fibrosis cystic fibrosis (sĭs`tĭk fībrō`sĭs), inherited disorder of the exocrine glands (see gland), affecting children and young people; median survival is 25 years in females and 30 years in males. in collaboration with Debiopharm, S.A. Dyax utilizes its proprietary phage display technology to rapidly identify a broad range of recombinant protein recombinant protein Molecular biology A protein encoded by recombinant DNA or generated from a recombinant gene. See Recombinant pharmacology. , peptide, and fully human monoclonal antibody monoclonal antibody, an antibody that is mass produced in the laboratory from a single clone and that recognizes only one antigen. Monoclonal antibodies are typically made by fusing a normally short-lived, antibody-producing B cell (see immunity) to a fast-growing compounds that bind with high affinity and specificity to targets of interest, with the objective of selecting those compounds with the greatest potential for advancement into clinical development. Dyax leverages broadly its phage display technology through revenue generating licenses and collaborations in both its core therapeutics area, as well as in non-core areas of affinity separations, diagnostic imaging, and research reagents. Through its subsidiary, Biotage, Inc., Dyax develops, manufactures and sells chromatography separations systems and products to pharmaceutical companies worldwide for drug discovery and purification. Cambridge Antibody Technology +44-1223-471-471 Dyax Corporation +1-617-250-5759 www.dyax.com |
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