Nanobody technology has been used to rapidly identify a highly diverse and potent panel of Nanobodies against one of the targets exclusive to the collaboration, triggering a milestone payment
Ablynx, a pioneer in the discovery and development of Nanobodies, has announced that its collaboration agreement with Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals (P+GP), a division of Procter and Gamble, has reached a first milestone, establishing the potential of Ablynx's Nanobody technology for possible new treatments in the musculoskeletal category.
The unique and patented Nanobody technology has been used to rapidly identify a highly diverse and potent panel of Nanobodies against one of the targets exclusive to the collaboration, triggering an undisclosed milestone payment.
Hennie Hoogenboom, chief scientific officer at Ablynx, said: "We are very pleased to have achieved this important milestone, demonstrating progress in a very exciting area of research and validating the effectiveness of our Nanobody technology platform.
"It demonstrates that our technology can deliver novel Nanobodies against therapeutically relevant targets extremely quickly, highlighting its commercial value".
Kevin Driscoll, director new technology development at P+GP added: "We are delighted with the progress of the collaboration.
"Ablynx has proven an excellent partner, successfully identifying novel Nanobodies with potential to develop into therapeutics for the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases".
As part of this on-going collaboration Ablynx is responsible for discovering Nanobodies that meet an agreed product profile.
P+GP is responsible for the pre-clinical and clinical development of Nanobodies, as well as the commercialisation of any resulting drug products.
Ablynx's strategy is to build a diverse and broad portfolio of therapeutic Nanobodies based on strategic partnerships as well as on its own internal discovery pipeline.
In addition to the collaboration with P+GP, Ablynx has ongoing research collaborations and significant, multi-target partnerships with several other major pharmaceutical companies, including Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Centocor (J+J), and Kirin Brewery.
