Danish/Dutch antibody collaboration

Collaboration agreed

Danish antibodies specialist Genmab A/S agreed to collaborate with Pepscan Therapeutics NV to identify fully human monoclonal antibodies against intractable disease targets.

Such intractable targets include those that are difficult to address using commonly available technologies, which there would be advantages in targeting with monoclonal antibodies.  The types of problem to be overcome include target antigens that are buried in the cell wall or which exhibit poor immunogenicity.

Pepscan will use its proprietary CLIPS technology to identify functional mimics of the essential parts of such intractable targets. These mimics will be used by Genmab to create and select therapeutic antibodies using its fully human monoclonal antibody technology. “As part of our efforts to expand Genmab’s pipeline, we continually evaluate disease targets which may effectively be addressed with monoclonal antibodies,” said Lisa Drakeman, CEO of Genmab.  “This research collaboration with Pepscan will allow us to include in our evaluations a wider variety of disease targets that may not be easily addressed using standard treatments.”

Joost van Bree, CEO of Pepscan Therapeutics said monoclonal antibodies against intractable targets are a significant unmet need. “The combination of Pepscan CLIPS protein mimicry platform with Genmab’s ability to generate fully human monoclonals will enable the partners to develop innovative products for poorly served indications.”