PRINCETON, New Jersey, January 31 /PRNewswire/ --
- Laureate to Manufacture ARIUS' Product Candidate Trop-2 Signal Transduction Antibody
Laureate Pharma, Inc., a full-service biopharmaceutical development and protein production company, today announced that it has entered into a cGMP contract manufacturing agreement with ARIUS Research, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing the next wave of antibody therapeutics to treat cancer and other diseases, for its Trop-2 Signal Transduction Antibody Program. Laureate will produce ARIUS' IgG1 humanized antibody under the agreement. ARIUS' Trop-2 antibody program targets a novel marker that has been linked in the scientific literature to aggressive cancers including pancreatic, colon, breast and prostate cancer.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080131/NETH020LOGO )
"Our specialized experience in the manufacture of monoclonal antibodies makes us an ideal partner to support ARIUS and the manufacturing of their Trop-2 Signal Transduction Antibody," said Robert J. Broeze, Ph.D., President & CEO of Laureate. "As with all of our Life Science client companies, we will work closely with the ARIUS team to help them achieve their manufacturing objectives."
"The initiation of manufacturing for our second drug candidate demonstrates our ability to execute on our milestones and move multiple candidates from the ARIUS pipeline of drug candidates forward," said Dr. David S. Young, President and Chief Executive Officer of ARIUS. "Laureate Pharma has a track record of expertise in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, including capabilities in both clinical and commercial-grade materials and will provide us with a supply of our Trop-2 targeting drug necessary to begin our preclinical studies in the first quarter of 2008 in preparation for human clinical trials."
ARIUS' Trop-2 Signal Transduction Antibody Program has produced the only unconjugated antibody currently in development targeting this novel marker. Trop-2 is a protein expressed on the cell-surface and found in many cancer indications including pancreatic, colon, breast and prostate cancer. The target is thought to be a key part of the expansive MAPK pathway. Of more than 900 abstracts considered for oral presentation at the October 2007 AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, the abstract on Trop-2 was one of 12 selected. The Trop-2 Signal Transduction Program was generated using ARIUS' proprietary FunctionFIRST(TM) technology, which selects antibodies based on their ability to kill cancer cells.
About Laureate Pharma, Inc.
Laureate Pharma is a full-service biopharmaceutical development and protein production company located in Princeton, New Jersey. Laureate Pharma offers superior bioprocessing services that accelerate new products from development through production. Laureate provides a wide range of specialized services from process design and development to full-scale cGMP production, purification, aseptic filling, testing, validation, analytical services, and regulatory support. Laureate is focused on two active segments of the biopharmaceutical industry: monoclonal antibodies and recombinant protein products. Laureate Pharma, Inc. is a partner company of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE: SFE), which provides growth capital for entrepreneurial and innovative technology and life sciences companies through expansion financings, corporate spin-outs, management buyouts, recapitalizations, industry consolidations and early-stage financings. (www.safeguard.com) For more information, contact Michael Cavanaugh, Vice President Sales, Marketing, and Business Development at +1-609-919-3400, or info@laureatepharma.com or visit www.laureatepharma.com.
About ARIUS
ARIUS is a biotechnology company discovering and developing the next wave of antibody therapeutics. Established in 1999, ARIUS has built a proprietary technology platform, FunctionFIRST(TM) that rapidly identifies and selects antibodies based on their functional ability to affect disease. This antibody generation engine has enabled ARIUS to assemble a portfolio of more than 500 antibody candidates. In addition to the antibodies it is developing in-house, ARIUS has ongoing partnerships with key biotechnology and drug development companies. ARIUS is listed on the TSX under the symbol "ARI". For further information, visit www.ariusmabs.com
Web site: http://www.laureatepharma.com http://www.safeguard.com http://www.ariusmabs.com
Michael Cavanaugh, Vice President Sales, Marketing, and Business Development of Laureate Pharma, Inc., +1-609-919-3400, info@laureatepharma.com; Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080131/NETH020LOGO, AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org, PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
