AbCheck licenses CELEXION yeast display technology for an industry first

Mar 14 2011

AbCheck s.r.o., the multi antibody discovery platforms company, announced today the company has licensed a proven antibody yeast display technology from CELEXION LLC (Cambridge, MA, USA). The addition of this platform to AbCheck's current phage display platform places the company as the World's only antibody discovery specialist leveraging the advantage of working with both phage and yeast display technologies.

"In our discussions with partners we noticed an increasing demand for human antibodies with not only high affinity and target specificities, but also good drugability and biological functionalities," said Dr. Volker Lang, CEO of AbCheck. "By combining the strength of both yeast and phage technologies into AbSieve we have created a platform that exactly addresses this market need. Moreover, we can combine this with delivery in very competitive timeframes and maximum flexibility to construct generous tailor made deals."

Under the deal terms, AbCheck receives non-exclusive rights to the yeast display platform in the Czech Republic and worldwide rights to commercialize derivative products. Financial terms were not disclosed. The technology has proven to be able to display full length functional IgGs, tandem scFvs and scFvs plus many other non-antibody proteins.

"We are very pleased to partner with the experienced antibody engineering team at AbCheck, and to see our powerful SECANT platform become a key component of their toolbox." said Dr. Brian M. Baynes, CEO of CELEXION.

"In more than 25 projects we have used our phage display antibody technology to identify human antibodies with high affinities and demanding target specificities. I am excited about expanding our capabilities by adding the ability to display antibodies in virtually any format and simultaneously screen for high affinity and drugability to our already efficient technology," stated Dr. Vera Molkenthin, CSO of AbCheck. "Now we have the maximum likelihood to identify antibodies with exactly the drug target profile requested by our partners."

About CELEXION

CELEXION LLC is a bioengineering company that develops powerful platform technologies and products for partners in the pharmaceutical, industrial, agricultural, and life science research sectors.  One of the company's core technologies is a high-throughput protein engineering system called the SECANT platform, which enables large libraries of complex proteins to be displayed on the surface of eukaryotic cells and rapidly interrogated for useful properties.  Other technologies CELEXION has developed include a human, full length IgG antibody library for biotherapeutic lead generation; enzymatic pathways for synthesis of a variety of high-value materials from sugar; and a novel set of enzymes for manipulation of chromosome-sized DNA.  The company is based in Cambridge, MA, USA and financed by Flagship Ventures and GE Healthcare Financial Services.  For further information www.celexionbio.com.

CELEXION is a registered trademark and SECANT is a pending trademark application of Celexion LLC.

About AbCheck

AbCheck s.r.o. focuses on the discovery of human antibodies for partner companies. Using the yeast display platform AbCheck is able to perform lead optimisation on any antibody, including antibodies generated from our three highly validated phage display libraries. This approach enables AbCheck to deliver antibodies that meet exactly the drug profile requested by our partners. Additionally, AbSieve, the combined phage and yeast display platforms, is used to develop antibodies in all antibody formats including full length IgGs as well as customer specific and novel antibody formats. AbSieve antibodies have improved drugability through screening in the final antibody drug format combined with systems that select for highly expressing and stable molecules. Ultimately, AbSieve antibodies have a higher probability of reaching the market. AbCheck is recognised for its expertise in antibody discovery throughout the US and Europe. For further information visit: www.abcheck.eu.