Anglo-Dutch-Italian alliance in antibodies

Joint venture

Anglo-Dutch antibody specialist PanGenetics BV has agreed a collaboration with Lay Line Genomics SpA of Rome, Italy, in the field of therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of pain.

Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, Lay Line has granted exclusive rights to Hu-alphaD11, a humanised antibody against nerve growth factor (NGF) that has shown very promising effects in preclinical animal models of inflammatory and chronic pain.

The companies will work together on the preclinical programme and PanGenetics will assume full responsibility for the clinical development and commercialisation. In addition to research funding and an upfront payment, the Italian company will receive undisclosed milestone payments and royalties on commercial sales.

The NGF signalling pathway represents a novel approach for the treatment of several types of chronic pain, including inflammatory, neuropathic and cancer pain.