Cambridge, UK, 04 April 2018: IONTAS Limited (IONTAS), a leader in the discovery and optimisation of fully human antibodies, announced today that it will collaborate with IGEM Therapeutics (IGEM), an immuno-oncology company developing novel immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer. The project will add to IGEM’s pipeline of drugs and expand upon IGEM-F, an IgE targeting ovarian and other cancers, currently in a Phase 1/2a study. IONTAS will utilise its proprietary antibody discovery technology to help IGEM identify novel IgE antibodies against two targets.
IgE antibodies have been shown to permeate tumour tissue more effectively, exhibit enhanced effector functions and stimulate significantly greater levels of cytotoxicity and phagocytosis than IgG antibodies. IONTAS will apply its proprietary antibody discovery libraries and technologies to identify specific, high-affinity antibodies against two tumour-associated targets. Functional screening of IgE-formatted antibodies will be carried out to identify the most appropriate candidates for therapeutic development.
John McCafferty, CEO at IONTAS, commented: “This collaboration capitalises on the antibody discovery capabilities at IONTAS which enable the generation of high-quality therapeutic antibodies using phage-display or mammalian-display. We maintain a strong interest in developing novel therapeutic approaches and recognise IgE therapeutics as an important addition to the armoury of novel cancer therapies. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with fellow innovators at IGEM on these two exciting projects.”
Tim Wilson, CEO at IGEM, commented: “IONTAS was selected as our development partner of choice because of their extensive experience and track record in delivering therapeutic antibodies. The combination of the IGEM IgE platform and the discovery capability of IONTAS will rapidly expand our portfolio of antibodies and help meet our ambitions to progress new leads into the clinic.”
For further information, please visit: https://www.iontas.co.uk/technologies/
About IONTAS
IONTAS is a biotechnology company focused on antibody discovery and cutting-edge technology development. IONTAS offers services for antibody discovery using Phage Display Technology; and the supply of bespoke phage display libraries. In addition, IONTAS offers proprietary antibody discovery platforms including Mammalian Display where full length antibodies are expressed in the context of a mammalian cell thereby allowing selection based on function, stability, expression and developability; Iontas have also developed a novel “KnotBody” format which facilitates the targeting of antibodies to ion channels, GPCRs and proteases.
About IGEM Therapeutics
IGEM is a UK immuno-oncology company developing novel immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer. Unlike immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgE has evolved to kill tissue-dwelling multicellular parasites endowing it with several key features that make it ideal for the treatment of solid tumours. IGEM is a spin out of King’s College London and has an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Sophia Karagiannis, a global leader in IgE’s. IGEM closed a Series A financing led by Epidarex Capital in April 2017.
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