Roche, Affitech Sign Research Pact

Affitech AS, a human antibody therapeutics company based in Norway, has signed a research and licensing agreement with Roche to produce fully human monoclonal antibodies against an unnamed oncology target. The agreement tasks Affitech with using its proprietary phagemid library, high throughput screening technology and antibody engineering platforms to identify candidate antibodies which Roche would then utilize for further development and commercialization. The financial terms of the collaboration include research fees, milestone payments and royalties on net sales upon commercialization of any product.

“These are exciting times for Affitech,” commented Martin Welschof, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Affitech. “We are delighted that Roche has chosen to partner with us based on our significant achievements to date in the human antibody field. Partnering is a key part of our twin-track strategy of generating revenue streams from collaborations parallel to developing our own therapeutic candidate pipeline. This new agreement is the latest in a series of collaborations, also in oncology that we have made with some of the other global antibody companies including the US based Xoma and Peregrine Pharmaceuticals”.