Date: 2012-10-04
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound: biosimilar therapeutic proteins expressed from tobacco leaves
Company: Medicago (Canada) Cellectis (France)
Therapeutic area:
Type agreement: R&D
Action mechanism:
Disease:
Details: * On January 16, 2012, Medicago, a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus Like Particles, and Cellectis plant sciences, a subsidiary of Cellectis SA (Alternext: ALCLS), the French specialist in genome engineering, today announced the signing of a research agreement under which Medicago and Cellectis will collaborate to improve therapeutic proteins expressed from tobacco leaves. Medicago will assess Cellectis' nuclease technology for use in its ongoing work to develop biosimilar products. As part of an ongoing effort in the development biosimilar protein therapeutics from tobacco plants, Medicago is partnering with Cellectis to modify the glycosylation of biosimilar product candidates.
Financial terms: Financial details were not disclosed.
Latest news: * On October 4, 2012, Medicago and Cellectis plant sciences have announced the successful completion of the first step in their research collaboration to improve therapeutic proteins produced in tobacco plants. Since January 2012 , research conducted by Medicago and Cellectis plant sciences has demonstrated high levels of efficacy using Cellectis' nucleases to modify six different genes in the tobacco genome related to protein glycosylation. Medicago and Cellectis will now continue with the next stage of their research collaboration, which includes both the generation and testing of modified tobacco plants and the evaluation of the ability to produce therapeutic proteins with modified glycosylation.
"Developing tobacco plants capable of producing biosimilars with modified glycosylation profiles could significantly reduce discovery and development timelines, and also improve the therapeutic profile of our biosimilar product candidates," said Andy Sheldon , Chief Executive Officer of Medicago. "In addition to our core approach of utilizing transient expression technologies for the production of proteins in tobacco plants, we are also exploring genome engineering applications to improve products for human health benefit."
