French biotech duo awarded €6.7M OSEO grant for antibody

Collaboration | Grant

Vivalis SA and Innate Pharma SA have signed a collaboration and commercial licensing agreement under which they will work together to develop a monoclonal antibody for treating rare cutaneous cancers. The work will be supported with a €6.7 million grant from the French innovation agency OSEO.

For Vivalis, the collaboration will enable the development and validation of an enhanced antibody production process using its EB66 cell line, up to clinical trials. This is the first EB66 commercial license signed in the field of therapeutic antibodies.

As for Innate Pharma, it is hoped the collaboration will significantly accelerate the development of IPH 4101, a cytotoxic monoclonal antibody.

The grant from OSEO covers around 45 per cent of costs up to clinical proof-of-concept.