OREANDA-NEWS. Abzena plc (AIM:ABZA), a life sciences group providing services and technologies to enable development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, announces that a grant for €1.9 million has been awarded under the Eurostars™ programme to a consortium that comprises its subsidiary, Antitope Limited, Dutch biopharmaceutical companies Prothix BV and Aristi Biotech BV, the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU, the Netherlands) and GenOway, a French company. 

The consortium is developing a novel treatment for clotting disorders, targeting antithrombin III, a protein which inhibits blood clotting. Members will provide their know-how and expertise to produce humanised monoclonal antibody candidates that bind antithrombin III, undertake preclinical proof of concept studies and develop a cell line for the manufacture of the selected lead candidate. This novel antibody has the potential to both prevent and treat bleeding in patients with disorders such as haemophilia. 

Neil Butt, VP Business Development, Abzena, said: "Applying our Composite Human Antibody™ technology to this novel product will help produce a less immunogenic version, giving it a greater chance of improving the lives of patients." 

Ren? Verdonk, CEO, Prothix, commented: "We are very pleased to have been awarded another Eurostars™ grant to develop a product that could prevent severe bleeding in patients with haemophilia and look forward to working with the other consortium members again." 

Erik Hack, Professor of Immunology, UMCU, said: "This project not only emphasizes the value of the research work undertaken at UMCU, but also illustrates that valorisation of research results is important to UMCU. We are excited to be part of a consortium and look forward to seeing the preclinical proof of concept for this novel approach." 

Mark de Boer, CEO, Aristi, said: "We are keen to be able to bring our expertise in the early stage manufacture of monoclonal antibodies to this programme and to be involved in its preclinical development". 

Alexandre Fraichard, CEO, GenOway, said "We are pleased to be able to add our expertise in the development of preclinical disease models to this consortium of organisations with complementary technologies that will enable the development of a novel therapeutic product to improve the lives of patients."

About Abzena

Abzena provides proprietary technologies and complementary services in the UK and US to enable the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products. The development of biopharmaceuticals is a growing area and requires specialist technology and expertise. 

The Group comprises Antitope, PacificGMP, PolyTherics and TCRS, which between them have built a global customer base including the majority of the top 20 biopharmaceutical companies as well as large and small biotech companies and academic groups. 

Antitope provides immunogenicity assessment, protein engineering to create humanized antibodies and deimmunised therapeutic proteins, and cell line development for manufacture. 

PacificGMP provides contract process development and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals, including monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, vaccines, and gene therapy and cell therapy products, for preclinical and clinical studies. 

PolyTherics specializes in proprietary site-specific conjugation technologies for antibody drug conjugate development and solutions for optimizing the therapeutic properties of biopharmaceuticals. 

TCRS is a contract chemistry and bioconjugation business focused on ADCs and is establishing the capability to manufacture ADCs to GMP standards. 

Abzena (AIM: ABZA) has its main operations in Cambridge, UK, San Diego, CA, US and Bristol, Pennsylvania, US.

About Eurostars

Eurostars supports international innovative projects led by research and development- performing small- and medium-sized enterprises (R&D-performing SMEs). With its bottom-up approach, Eurostars supports the development of rapidly marketable innovative products, processes and services that help improve the daily lives of people around the world. Eurostars has been carefully developed to meet the specific needs of SMEs. It is an ideal first step in international cooperation, enabling small businesses to combine and share expertise and benefit from working beyond national borders. 

About Aristi Biotech

Aristi Biotech is a Dutch contract research provider specialized in early antibody research and development activities. Aristi has a license to the CHOBC® platform to generate high quality and high titre manufacturing cell lines. 

About genOway

genOway (ALTERNEXT-NYSE: ALGEN) is a biotechnology company developing genetically modified and high value-added research models for the bio-pharmaceutical, chemical, agrochemical and food industries as well as for academic research. With highly qualified scientific personnel, the company has a workforce of 90 people and operates in 28 countries in Europe, Asia and North America, supplying more than 275 customers. genOway has 15 years expertise in generating innovative models for drug discovery. It is a market leader in terms of both size and customer portfolios. The company's development is founded upon both a broad and exclusive technology platform as well as strong intellectual property rights combining patents and licensing agreements. 

About Prothix

Prothix is a Dutch biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of protein therapeutics in the field of coagulation and inflammation. Product leads, discovered by the company or licensed in from academia, are selected based on medical need, potential markets and customer needs and meet a so-called niche-buster profile, i.e. they will be developed for niche indications to obtain clinical proof of concept, while having blockbuster promise for other indications. Prothix adds value to these leads by executing preclinical proof of concept and early development studies. 

About University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU)

The UMCU is the main hospital in Utrecht and is affiliated with Utrecht University. It is one of the largest academic centres in the Netherlands with over 1,100 beds and more than 11,000 employees. The association with the University creates an environment where scientific advancements can move quickly from bench to bedside. The faculty of medicine at the University has over 3,500 bachelor and master students in medicine, biomedical sciences and clinical health sciences.