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 | | ATHERA BIOTECHNOLOGIES AND DYAX ANNOUNCE A COLLABORATION TO DISCOVER AND DEVELOP ANTIBODIES FOR CARDIOVASCULAR INFLAMMATION | | | Athera Biotechnologies | | 02/10/2008 | | | Athera Biotechnologies AB and Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ:DYAX) announced today that they have entered into a collaboration to discover and to develop therapeutic products for the prevention or treatment of cardiovascular inflammatory diseases.
The collaboration follows the recent publication of work by Athera scientific founders, Professors Frostegard and de Faire of the Karolinska Institutet. The research links naturally occurring antibodies against phosphorylcholine (PC) to atherosclerosis, and correlates low antibody levels with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease in which the walls of the blood vessels are thickened and become less elastic.
During the discovery phase of the collaboration, Dyax will utilize its proprietary antibody libraries to generate fully human monoclonal antibodies. Athera will provide reagents, assays, and in vivo animal models for use in selecting a clinical product candidate. Upon successful completion of the discovery work, Athera and Dyax will have the option to advance the antibody lead(s) into clinical development under the terms of a global co-development and commercialization agreement.
"We are very pleased to be working with Athera," commented Clive Wood, EVP, Discovery Research and CSO of Dyax Corp. "Through their innovative research from the Karolinska Institutet, we believe Athera has identified an exciting potential opportunity for therapeutic antibody treatment of cardiovascular inflammation."
"The strength of Dyax's phage display technology, screening capabilities and expertise in drug discovery make them an excellent partner to advance our cardiovascular research program," said Carina Schmidt, CEO of Athera.
About Dyax Corp.
Dyax is focused on advancing novel biotherapeutics for unmet medical needs, with an emphasis on oncology and inflammatory indications. Dyax utilizes its proprietary drug discovery technology to identify antibody, small protein and peptide compounds for clinical development. Dyax's lead product candidate is DX-88 (ecallantide), a recombinant small protein that is currently being evaluated for its therapeutic potential in two separate indications. On September 24, 2008, Dyax announced the submission of its Biologics License Application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval of DX-88 for the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE). DX-88 has orphan drug designation in the U.S. and E.U., as well as Fast Track designation in the U.S., for the treatment of acute attacks of HAE. Additionally, DX-88 is being evaluated for the prevention of blood loss during on-pump cardiothoracic surgery (CTS) through its partner Cubist Pharmaceuticals. Dyax licensed to Cubist the intravenous formulation of DX-88 for surgical indications in North America and Europe. DX-88 and other compounds in Dyax's pipeline were identified using its patented phage display technology, which rapidly selects compounds that bind with high affinity and specificity to therapeutic targets. Dyax leverages this technology broadly with over 70 revenue generating licenses and collaborations for therapeutic discovery, as well as in non-core areas such as affinity separations, diagnostic imaging, and research reagents. | |
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