Acquisition
The Austrian vaccines specialist Intercell AG has signed an agreement with Cytos Biotechnology Ltd to acquire Cytos’ platform technology for monoclonal antibody discovery. The technology is based on expression cloning of monoclonal antibodies from human B-cells and enables the identification of anti-infective antibodies to prevent and treat infectious diseases.
Intercell is paying €15 million for the technology, which includes unpartnered pre-clinical anti-infective antibody candidates discovered by Cytos. The key scientists, who have developed the technology at Cytos, will be joining Intercell.
The antibody technology complements Intercell’s technology platforms and opens up novel medical applications for Intercell’s Antigen Identification Programme, which has delivered vaccine candidates against Staphylococcus aureus, which are in Phase II/III clinical development, and Pneumococcus infections, among others. The technology has also been the basis for partnerships in the antibody field with Merck & Co. and Kyowa Hakko Kirin.
“Cytos’ outstanding antibody technology complements our innovative R&D technology platform and enables pipeline progression within our existing portfolio,” said Gerd Zettlmeissl, Chief Executive Officer of Intercell.
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