CAT and Amrad alliance
December 19 2001 - 2:10AM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:9256O
Cambridge Antibody Tech Group PLC
19 December 2001
01/CAT/23
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
07.00 GMT, 02.00 EST Wednesday 19 December 2001
For Further Information Contact:
Cambridge Antibody Technology Weber Shandwick Square Mile
(Europe)
Tel: +44 (0) 1763 263233
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7601 1000
John Aston, Finance Director
Kevin Smith
David Chiswell, Chief Executive Officer
Graham Herring
Rowena Gardner, Head of Corporate
Communications
AMRAD Corporation Limited
Tel: +613 9208 4320 or 0419 893 922 BMC Communications/The Trout Group
(USA)
Anne Hayward, Investor Relations
Tel: 001 212 477 9007
Brad Miles, ext 17 (media)
Brandon Lewis, ext 15 (investors)
CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY TECHNOLOGY AND AMRAD CORPORATION LIMITED FORM ALLIANCE FOR
HUMAN MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY CO-DEVELOPMENT
Joint programme to develop human antibody drugs neutralising
GM-CSF Receptor activity in inflammatory disease
Melbourn, UK and Melbourne, Australia... Cambridge Antibody Technology (LSE:
CAT; NASDAQ: CATG) and AMRAD Corporation Limited (ASX: AML) today announce a
product development collaboration committed to the joint discovery and
development of human antibody-based therapeutics that neutralise the receptor
for granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF Receptor). Under
the terms of the agreement, the two companies will fund all development
jointly through to completion of Phase II proof-of-concept studies. CAT then
has primary responsibility for further development and commercialisation.
AMRAD has the option to receive milestone and royalty payments from CAT or to
participate jointly with CAT in further development and commercialisation.
AMRAD will contribute its patent estate, intellectual property and know-how
pertaining to the therapeutic target, pre-clinical and development
capabilities to the collaboration, and CAT will contribute its proprietary
human antibody phage display
technology, high-throughput functional screening, pre-clinical, manufacturing
and development capabilities.
Recent studies have indicated that the cytokine GM-CSF plays a central role in
the development of rheumatoid arthritis. When GM-CSF binds to its receptor, it
induces the pro-inflammatory cascade underlying the pathogenesis of this
disease. There is thus a sound rationale for neutralising the interaction
between GM-CSF and its receptor as a means of intervening in inflammatory
disease processes. AMRAD has been granted patents to the GM-CSF receptor
target in Europe, USA and Australia, and patents are pending in Canada and
Japan.
Dr. David Chiswell, Chief Executive Officer of CAT, commented "We are
extremely pleased to be entering this relationship with AMRAD to develop novel
strategies for treating inflammatory disease. It underscores CAT's commitment
both to share in the risks and rewards of antibody product development and to
build a drug pipeline serving areas of significant medical need. CAT and AMRAD
are committed to a close collaboration to capture the significant long-term
value in novel human proteins to treat human disease."
Dr. Sandra Webb, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of AMRAD, added
"The number of antibodies which have been identified and are presently in
development using CAT technology provides AMRAD with great confidence that the
collaboration we have initiated with CAT will deliver vitally important new
medicines and great commercial results."
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:
Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT)
CAT is a UK biotechnology company using its proprietary technologies in human
monoclonal antibodies for drug discovery and drug development. Based near
Cambridge, England, CAT currently employs around 250 people.
CAT is listed on the London Stock Exchange and on NASDAQ since June 2001. CAT
raised #41m in its IPO in March 1997 and #93m in a secondary offering in March
2000.
CAT has an advanced platform technology for rapidly isolating human monoclonal
antibodies using phage display systems. CAT has extensive phage antibody
libraries, currently incorporating more than 100 billion distinct antibodies.
These libraries form the basis for the Company's strategy to develop a
portfolio of antibody-based drugs and to utilise antibodies as tools for
target validation. Six human therapeutic antibodies developed by CAT are at
various stages of clinical trials. CAT has alliances with a large number of
biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to discover, develop and
commercialise human monoclonal antibody-based products. CAT has also licensed
its proprietary human antibody phage display libraries to several companies
for target validation and drug discovery. CAT's collaborators include: Abbott,
Elan, Eli Lilly, Genetics Institute, Genzyme, Human Genome Sciences, Immunex,
Merck & Co., Inc, Oxford GlycoSciences, Pharmacia, Pfizer, Wyeth-Ayerst,
Xerion and Zyomyx.
This is the fourth antibody product co-development agreement signed by CAT. In
September 2000 CAT entered a strategic alliance with Genzyme for the
development of human antibodies to TGFb, in January this year CAT signed a
broad collaboration with Elan to discover and develop antibodies for
neurological diseases and in May this year CAT entered a co-development
collaboration with Immunex for antibodies to the recently disclosed targets
CD-30L and IL-18 receptor accessory protein.
AMRAD Corporation Limited (AMRAD)
AMRAD is an Australian research-based biotechnology company. AMRAD conducts
research in the fields of virology and cytokine biology. AMRAD currently has a
portfolio of seven projects in various stages of preclinical and clinical
development. Four of the seven projects are in clinical trials. The lead
clinical projects include emfilermin (previously code-named AM424) for the
treatment of neuromuscular disorders (Phase II); emfilermin for the treatment
of reproductive health (Phase 1) in collaboration with Serono; AM336 for the
treatment of chronic severe pain (Phase I/II); AM365 for the treatment of
hepatitis B infection (Phase II); AM132 and AM133 for the treatment of
cardiovascular disease (preclinical testing) in collaboration with Aventis and
Edwards Lifesciences respectively; and AM36 (preclinical testing) for the
treatment of stroke in collaboration with DevCo Pharmaceuticals.
AMRAD's strategy is to add significant value to its portfolio of potential
pharmaceutical products, to the point where they can be licensed to
international pharmaceutical companies. If the projects are successful, AMRAD
receives a return on research and development expenditure comprising cash
receipts and a royalty stream based on product sales.
Application of the Safe Harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: This press release contains statements about Cambridge Antibody
Technology Group plc ("CAT") that are forward looking statements. All
statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press
release may be forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
These forward looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding
CAT's present and future business strategies and the environment in which CAT
will operate in the future. Certain factors that could cause CAT's actual
results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the
forward looking statements include: market conditions, CAT's ability to enter
into and maintain collaborative arrangements, success of product candidates in
clinical trials, regulatory developments and competition.
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