Date: 2016-01-11
Type of information: Licensing agreement
Compound: cell therapy
Company: Ferring Pharmaceuticals (Switzerland) Targeted Immuno Therapies (Sweden)
Therapeutic area: Gastrointestinal diseases - Digestive diseases
Type agreement: licensing collaboration
Action mechanism: cell therapy
Disease: inflammatory bowel Diseases, including Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, unclassified colitis as well as microscopic colitis)
Details: * On January 11, 2016, Targeted Immuno Therapies (TLA) announced that it has signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Ferring Pharmaceuticals, granting Ferring worldwide rights (excluding China) to its discovery of a new, novel treatment for IBD. This collaboration aims to further develop the technology, created by TLA, for the treatment of IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, including ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, unclassified colitis as well as microscopic colitis). The newly discovered and proprietary technology works by removing harmful cells from the patient’s blood, thereby re-establishing a positive balance of the patient’s immune system. Patients are referred to their hospital to be treated ambulatory with a modified version of leukapheresis (or blood-exchange). The patient’s own blood is pumped through a column containing a specifically designed and proprietary peptide chemokine that removes the specific cells that are known to cause damage in inflammatory diseases. A proof-of-principle clinical study, completed in 2015, with severely affected ulcerative colitis patients gave some promising results. The inflamed gut mucosa healed in more than half of the patients and this was linked to a significant reduction of the circulating pro-inflammatory cells. A confirmatory clinical study in severe ulcerative colitis patients is now being planned as the next step. Starting in 2016, Ferring will now fund the further product development and clinical trial programme, in exchange for an exclusive, worldwide option (excluding China), and this will hopefully lead to a fulfilling potential of this technology in the treatment paradigm related to severe IBD patients.
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