Affitech selected to participate in European Union EET Pipeline project to identify fully human therapeutic antibody candidates for embryonal tumours (ET) using its unique antibody discovery platform
The EET Pipeline project is a multidisciplinary consortium of leading European institutions and SME (Small and Medium Enterprise)s, which the EU is funding with euro4million for developing new methods of diagnosis and treatment for ET.
Such methods would be based on gene expression profiling of tumours and would include other post-genomic investigative technologies.
The EU has taken this initiative since embryonal tumours are classified as orphan diseases, but they do not comprise large enough markets to justify the costs of drug development for the pharmaceutical industry.
"Affitech has become involved in the EET Pipeline project because of the current absence of efficient targeted therapeutics for ET.
We are excited about the opportunity of participating in the project, and the possibility of contributing to coordinated progress in the treatment and diagnosis of ET", commented Martin Welschof, CEO of Affitech.
Approximately 30% of childhood malignancies are embryonal tumours, which because of their unique genetic and morphologic features often demonstrate resistance to conventional treatment approaches successful in adults.
Embryonal tumours are also associated with lower survival rates compared to other childhood cancers.
However, their early manifestation in infants and young children suggests that only a limited number of genetic changes may lead to the transformed phenotype.
Although cDNA and array -based studies have given insight into potential therapeutic targets, only a limited number of studies have addressed the functional analysis of identified target genes.
Affitech's role will be to focus the power of its suite of unique antibody discovery technologies in solving this problem.
Bjorn Cochlovius, Afftech's director of R+D said: "We have utilised our highly efficient antibody libraries and high throughput screening systems to create a pipeline of multiple therapeutic cancer antibody candidates for both ourselves and our commercial partners.
"Therefore, we are delighted to be able to utilize our experience with several internationally recognised research groups involved in EET Pipeline consortium in identifying potential antibody therapeutics for this devastating childhood disease".
