Date: 2011-08-02
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound: biomarkers
Company: SuppreMol (Germany) Protagen (Germany)
Therapeutic area: Autoimmune diseases
Type agreement: research - R&D
Action mechanism:
Disease: systemic lupus erythematosus
Details: SuppreMol GmbH and Protagen AG announced a collaboration to identify therapy-related biomarkers in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). SuppreMol will use the biomarker portfolio of Protagen for the rapid identification of autoantibody signatures in the serum of SLE patients enrolled in the current phase IIa study of its lead product SM101. The aim is to identify patients who are most likely to respond favorable to SM101, a recombinant, soluble, non-glycosylated version of the Fc receptor IIb. The protein binds to autoantibody/autoantigen complexes and blocks the triggering of Fc receptors on the surface of immune cells. As a result, the immune response is downregulated and the activation of the inflammation cascade typically seen in autoimmune diseases is prevented.
Financial terms: Financial details of the collaboration are not disclosed. The cooperation as well as SuppreMol’s phase IIa SLE study are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Leading Edge Cluster m4.
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