London, UK and Dallas, TX, USA, 6 June 2014 – Antitope Limited (“Antitope”), an Abzena company, today announced that it will develop a manufacturing cell line for the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research (“BIIR”), one of the world’s leading centres for translational immunology research, using its Composite CHOTM technology. BIIR is developing a range of therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, and Antitope will develop a cell line for the production of BIIR’s novel dendriti c-cell-targeting vaccine for the treatment of head and neck and cervical cancer.
Antitope has developed the Composite CHOTM technology for the generation of stable cell lines producing high yields of proteins and antibodies ready for cGMP manufacture. The current project represents another milestone in the relationship between Antitope and BIIR, initiated several years ago when Antitope applied its Composite Human AntibodyTM technology to humanize several novel BIIR antibodies. The humanized antibodies have been an important tool for BIIR inthe development of its the rapeuticvaccines.
Matthew Baker, CSO of the Abzena group and co-founder of Antitope, commented: “We are delighted to be working with BIIR again and to have the opportunity to help advance one of its novel therapeutic dendritic- cell-targeting vaccines towards the clinic.”
Gerard Zurawski, Co-director of BIIR and Director of the Center for Biotechnology at BIIR, said: “We are thrilled to be continuing our working relationship with Matthew Baker and his team at Antitope on this program and we anticipate that the vaccine can now be rapidly advance dtoclinical studies.”
Dr Michael Ramsay, President of Baylor Research Institute, added: “As part of the Baylor Scott & White Health system, BIIR can leverage the GMP manufacturing capability of facilities in Temple, Texas – established with funding from Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) – and our system-wide clinical trials infrastructure, to develop products for cancer patients across the globe.”
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About Antitope
Antitope is a wholly owned subsidiary of Abzena Limited, a group focused on providing proprietary technologies and value-added services to enable the development of better biopharmaceuticals.
Antitope is an industry leader in immunogenicity assessment, protein engineering to create humanized antibodies and deimmunised therapeutic proteins, and cell line development for manufacture. The Company provides its services and technologies to an international client base that includes most of the world’s leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
www.antitope.co.uk
About Abzena
Abzena is the new name for the PolyTherics group, and is focused on providing proprietary technologies and value-added services to enable the development of better biopharmaceuticals.
Abzena comprises two wholly owned subsidiary businesses – PolyTherics and Antitope – which have established a broad suite of complementary technologies that are designed to improve the chances of successful development of antibodies and proteins with enhanced therapeutic benefits.
PolyTherics specializes in proprietary site-specific conjugation technologies for antibody drug conjugate development and solutions for optimization of the rapeutic properties of biopharmaceuticals.The group has built a global customer base over the past decade, including the top 10 pharma, large and small biotech, and academic groups.
Abzena is a privately owned UK company backed by institutional investors including Imperial Innovations (AIM: IVO), Invesco Perpetual, Mercia Fund Management, Advantage Enterprise & Innovation Fund (managed by Catapult Venture Partners), Capital Fund (managed by YFM), ProVen Growth & Income VCT and Oxford Technology VCTs.
www.abzena.com
About BIIR
BIIR (www.biir.org) is the immunology component of Baylor Research Institute and is one of the top translational human immunology centers in the world. BIIR has programs in cancer vaccines, transplantation immunology, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases. The goal of BIIR is to quickly translate important research discoveries from the ‘bench to the bedside’ to improve patient care and prevent the causes of diseases beforethey occur.
About Baylor Research Institute
Established in 1984 in Dallas, Texas, Baylor Research Institute (BRI) promotes and supports research to bring innovative treatments from the laboratory workbench to the patient bedside. To achieve this bench-to- bedside concept, BRI focuses on basic science, clinical trials, healthcare effectiveness and quality of care research. Today, BRI is conducting more than 930 active research protocols with 400 research investigators, spanning more than 22 medical specialties, and has research and development projects in areas ranging from human immunology and orphan metabolic diseases to diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and many other unmet medical needs.
About Baylor Scott & White Health
Baylor Scott & White Health, the organization formed from the 2013 merger between Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare, is today the largest not-for-profit health care system in the state of Texas. With total assets of $8.6 billion* and serving a geographic area larger than the state of Maine, Baylor Scott & White Health has the vision and resources to provide its patients continued quality care while creating a model system for a dramatically changing health care environment. The organization now includes 46 hospitals, more than 500 patient care sites, more than 6,000 active physicians, 36,000 employees and the Scott & White Health Plan. For More Information visit: www.BaylorScottandWhite.com
* based on unaudited fiscal year 2014 financial statements
For more information, please contact:
For Antitope / Abzena
John Burt, Abzena
Tel: + 44 (0)1223 903351
Email:john.burt@abzena.com
Mark Swallow, Sita Shah or Chris Gardner
CitigateDewe Rogerson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7638 9571
Email:abzena@citigatedr.co.uk
For Baylor Institute of Immunology Research
KristineHughes
Tel (office): +1 (214) 820-7556 Tel (mobile): +1 (214) 755-0010
Email: kristine.hughes@baylorhealth.edu