ARLINGTON, MA, USA I December 6, 2017 I TetraGenetics, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for autoimmune diseases, today announced a collaboration with ModiQuest Research, a Dutch biotechnology company with a suite of technologies for the discovery and optimization of monoclonal antibodies including those directed against difficult target antigens with low immunogenicity. The alliance is focused on the discovery of novel monoclonal antibodies against KCa3.1, a well-validated target for fibrosis, vasculoproliferative disorders and immunomodulation to treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.
“We are excited to work with ModiQuest, utilizing their ModiPhage library screening technology,” said Doug Kahn, TetraGenetics Chairman and CEO. “We believe our unique ion channel screening tools will enable deep mining of ModiQuest’s patient library repertoire to identify rare and functionally blocking KCa3.1 monoclonal antibodies that we can develop as therapeutics.”
This agreement will be complementary to TetraGenetics’ existing antibody discovery partnerships and the first one in which antibody discovery occurs through screening of pre-existing human libraries rather than animal immunization. Furthermore, with KCa3.1 as a target it strengthens the company’s focus on discovering and developing therapeutic antibodies against potassium efflux channels.
“TetraGenetics’ unique capability to produce high concentrations of difficult to produce ion channel proteins caught our attention,” said Jos Raats, CEO of ModiQuest. “TetraGenetics will provide us with unique screening formulations including oriented solid support proteoliposome particles and biotinylated proteoliposomes which should be highly effective for antibody discovery with our proprietary libraries. We’re look forward to a close collaboration with TetraGenetics’ science team, and are excited by the potential of combining the two unique technologies.”
Ted Clark, Chief Scientific Officer and Founder of TetraGenetics, added, “TetraGenetics and ModiQuest will combine their unique and proprietary technologies to discover novel therapeutic antibodies to previously intractable targets. This partnership could lead to the discovery of large molecules that functionally inhibit KCa3.1 and open the door to the development of new therapeutics for a variety of unmet medical needs.”
About TetraGenetics: TetraGenetics is an early stage drug discovery company that uses proprietary technology (TetraExpress™) to discover large molecule drugs targeting ion channel membrane proteins associated with many human diseases. The company’s drug discovery focus is on first-in-class biologics for autoimmune diseases and pain. For more information, please visit: www.tetragenetics.com.
About ModiQuest: For over 10 years ModiQuest Research specializes in the generation of monoclonal antibodies against difficult targets for R&D, diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Using their proprietary ModiVacc™ (hyper-immune stimulatory cell immunization), ModiFuse™ (electrofusion-based hybridoma generation), ModiSelect™ (antigen-specific B-cell selection) and ModiPhage™ (phage display) technologies, they can generate monoclonal antibodies from multiple species against virtually any target. Besides lead antibody generation, they also provide antibody engineering such as affinity maturation and humanization (ModiTune™), and production in transient and stable mammalian cell systems (ModiXpress™). For more information, please visit: www.modiquestresearch.com.
SOURCE: ModiQuest
Post Views: 121
ARLINGTON, MA, USA I December 6, 2017 I TetraGenetics, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for autoimmune diseases, today announced a collaboration with ModiQuest Research, a Dutch biotechnology company with a suite of technologies for the discovery and optimization of monoclonal antibodies including those directed against difficult target antigens with low immunogenicity. The alliance is focused on the discovery of novel monoclonal antibodies against KCa3.1, a well-validated target for fibrosis, vasculoproliferative disorders and immunomodulation to treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.
“We are excited to work with ModiQuest, utilizing their ModiPhage library screening technology,” said Doug Kahn, TetraGenetics Chairman and CEO. “We believe our unique ion channel screening tools will enable deep mining of ModiQuest’s patient library repertoire to identify rare and functionally blocking KCa3.1 monoclonal antibodies that we can develop as therapeutics.”
This agreement will be complementary to TetraGenetics’ existing antibody discovery partnerships and the first one in which antibody discovery occurs through screening of pre-existing human libraries rather than animal immunization. Furthermore, with KCa3.1 as a target it strengthens the company’s focus on discovering and developing therapeutic antibodies against potassium efflux channels.
“TetraGenetics’ unique capability to produce high concentrations of difficult to produce ion channel proteins caught our attention,” said Jos Raats, CEO of ModiQuest. “TetraGenetics will provide us with unique screening formulations including oriented solid support proteoliposome particles and biotinylated proteoliposomes which should be highly effective for antibody discovery with our proprietary libraries. We’re look forward to a close collaboration with TetraGenetics’ science team, and are excited by the potential of combining the two unique technologies.”
Ted Clark, Chief Scientific Officer and Founder of TetraGenetics, added, “TetraGenetics and ModiQuest will combine their unique and proprietary technologies to discover novel therapeutic antibodies to previously intractable targets. This partnership could lead to the discovery of large molecules that functionally inhibit KCa3.1 and open the door to the development of new therapeutics for a variety of unmet medical needs.”
About TetraGenetics: TetraGenetics is an early stage drug discovery company that uses proprietary technology (TetraExpress™) to discover large molecule drugs targeting ion channel membrane proteins associated with many human diseases. The company’s drug discovery focus is on first-in-class biologics for autoimmune diseases and pain. For more information, please visit: www.tetragenetics.com.
About ModiQuest: For over 10 years ModiQuest Research specializes in the generation of monoclonal antibodies against difficult targets for R&D, diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Using their proprietary ModiVacc™ (hyper-immune stimulatory cell immunization), ModiFuse™ (electrofusion-based hybridoma generation), ModiSelect™ (antigen-specific B-cell selection) and ModiPhage™ (phage display) technologies, they can generate monoclonal antibodies from multiple species against virtually any target. Besides lead antibody generation, they also provide antibody engineering such as affinity maturation and humanization (ModiTune™), and production in transient and stable mammalian cell systems (ModiXpress™). For more information, please visit: www.modiquestresearch.com.
SOURCE: ModiQuest
Post Views: 121
