Date: 2012-09-27
Type of information: Production agreement
Compound: CONJUMAB-A
Company: Lonza (Switzerland) Intellect Neurosciences (USA)
Therapeutic area: Neurodegenerative diseases - Ophtalmological diseases
Type agreement: development
manufacturing
production
Action mechanism: CONJUMAB-A (also known as IN-NO1-OX2), is an antibody drug conjugate, targeting age- related macular degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease. The CONJUMAB platform empowers monoclonal antibodies targeting amyloidogenic proteins with additional neuroprotective properties by combining them chemically with a small molecule such as an antioxidant. CONJUMAB-A, the first compound from this platform, is a monoclonal antibody specific for beta amyloid conjugated to melatonin which is a recognized as a potent antioxidant. Beta amyloid, when it accumulates in the retina of the eye, causes damage by oxidative stress. The conjugate is anticipated to increase the therapeutic window for melatonin to protect retinal epithelial cells, promote clearance of beta-amyloid away from sites of damage and limit potential off-target side-effects. CONJUMAB-A may also have potential applications for diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, traumatic brain injury, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Disease: age-related macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease
Details: Lonza has announced that Intellect Neurosciences, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of disease-modifying therapeutic agents for the treatment of proteinopathies, awarded the future development and manufacture of the antibody drug conjugate CONJUMAB-A to Lonza, subject to completion of a definitive development and manufacturing agreement. Lonza will supply the preclinical study material for the drug optimization and drug selection for Intellect’s CONJUMAB-A, initially focusing on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with potential applications for Alzheimer’s disease.
Intellect also plans to work with a number of independent specialized contract research organizations to evaluate the compounds produced by Lonza Chemical Manufacturing in Visp, Switzerland. Intellect‘s program is led by Dan Shochat, Ph.D., Intellect Neurosciences’ Consulting Vice President of Development and a pioneer in the development of antibody drug conjugates for cancer treatments.
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