Trellis Bioscience announced the granting of a worldwide exclusive license to MedImmune, the global biologics unit of AstraZeneca, to develop and commercialize Trellis’ antibodies directed against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA | December 1, 2009 | Trellis Bioscience, Inc. announced today the granting of a worldwide exclusive license to MedImmune, LLC, the global biologics unit of AstraZeneca, to develop and commercialize Trellis’ antibodies directed against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Under the terms of the agreement, MedImmune will pay Trellis an upfront cash payment upon signing, as well as additional payments for potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. The total payments have the potential to reach $338 million should a product resulting from this licensing agreement reach the market. MedImmune will be responsible for all preclinical and clinical development and commercialization of Trellis’s RSV antibodies worldwide. MedImmune will also pay Trellis royalty payments based on worldwide product sales.
The RSV antibodies were discovered using Trellis’ proprietary CellSpotTM discovery platform, which allows high throughput screening of human B-cells in a multiplexed format, thus enabling rapid identification and isolation of extremely rare human antibodies produced from the B-cells of RSV infected patients.
“We are excited to partner our unique anti-RSV antibodies with MedImmune,” commented James Posada, chief business officer of Trellis. “Given the company’s deep expertise in the field of RSV, we believe MedImmune is the best possible partner for this molecule.”
“The discovery of these antibodies further validates the Trellis CellSpot platform and its ability to screen millions of human B cells to identify very rare human antibodies generated by the human body to fight infection, in this case RSV,” added Stote Ellsworth president and chief technology officer of Trellis.
About CellSpot
Trellis’s patented CellSpot platform is a high throughput, cell analysis technology that enables simultaneous measurement of up to 10 antibody characteristics from single antibody secreting cells, including probes for specificity and affinity. Raising the quality threshold in the primary screen in this manner reduces the hit rate to a level that cannot be reliably accessed without the high throughput enabled by CellSpot’s extreme assay miniaturization. With CellSpot, millions of individual antibody producing cells can be characterized in detail in a few days, generating orders of magnitude more information than conventional methods. CellSpot can thereby examine the entire human repertoire in order to identify cells producing superior antibodies. As fully human antibodies, pre-screened for lack of cross-reactivity to normal human proteins, such antibodies offer the prospect of maximal safety.
About Trellis Bioscience
Trellis Bioscience, Inc. is a private, venture-funded, antibody company focused on the discovery and development of unique therapeutic antibodies from human B cells. To exploit this highly favorable but technically difficult antibody source, Trellis developed its patented CellSpot antibody discovery platform, which enables the rapid identification of rare, superior antibodies directly from human blood. The Company is initially focused on infectious disease targets, with the lead program providing therapeutic antibodies directed against Respiratory Syncytial Virus. For additional information on Trellis Bioscience, please visit our website at http://www.trellisbio.com.
SOURCE: Trellis Bioscience
Post Views: 591
Trellis Bioscience announced the granting of a worldwide exclusive license to MedImmune, the global biologics unit of AstraZeneca, to develop and commercialize Trellis’ antibodies directed against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA | December 1, 2009 | Trellis Bioscience, Inc. announced today the granting of a worldwide exclusive license to MedImmune, LLC, the global biologics unit of AstraZeneca, to develop and commercialize Trellis’ antibodies directed against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Under the terms of the agreement, MedImmune will pay Trellis an upfront cash payment upon signing, as well as additional payments for potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. The total payments have the potential to reach $338 million should a product resulting from this licensing agreement reach the market. MedImmune will be responsible for all preclinical and clinical development and commercialization of Trellis’s RSV antibodies worldwide. MedImmune will also pay Trellis royalty payments based on worldwide product sales.
The RSV antibodies were discovered using Trellis’ proprietary CellSpotTM discovery platform, which allows high throughput screening of human B-cells in a multiplexed format, thus enabling rapid identification and isolation of extremely rare human antibodies produced from the B-cells of RSV infected patients.
“We are excited to partner our unique anti-RSV antibodies with MedImmune,” commented James Posada, chief business officer of Trellis. “Given the company’s deep expertise in the field of RSV, we believe MedImmune is the best possible partner for this molecule.”
“The discovery of these antibodies further validates the Trellis CellSpot platform and its ability to screen millions of human B cells to identify very rare human antibodies generated by the human body to fight infection, in this case RSV,” added Stote Ellsworth president and chief technology officer of Trellis.
About CellSpot
Trellis’s patented CellSpot platform is a high throughput, cell analysis technology that enables simultaneous measurement of up to 10 antibody characteristics from single antibody secreting cells, including probes for specificity and affinity. Raising the quality threshold in the primary screen in this manner reduces the hit rate to a level that cannot be reliably accessed without the high throughput enabled by CellSpot’s extreme assay miniaturization. With CellSpot, millions of individual antibody producing cells can be characterized in detail in a few days, generating orders of magnitude more information than conventional methods. CellSpot can thereby examine the entire human repertoire in order to identify cells producing superior antibodies. As fully human antibodies, pre-screened for lack of cross-reactivity to normal human proteins, such antibodies offer the prospect of maximal safety.
About Trellis Bioscience
Trellis Bioscience, Inc. is a private, venture-funded, antibody company focused on the discovery and development of unique therapeutic antibodies from human B cells. To exploit this highly favorable but technically difficult antibody source, Trellis developed its patented CellSpot antibody discovery platform, which enables the rapid identification of rare, superior antibodies directly from human blood. The Company is initially focused on infectious disease targets, with the lead program providing therapeutic antibodies directed against Respiratory Syncytial Virus. For additional information on Trellis Bioscience, please visit our website at http://www.trellisbio.com.
SOURCE: Trellis Bioscience
Post Views: 591
