AdAlta and Baker IDI sign agreement to identify humanised shark antibody binders
Press Release
AdAlta Pty Ltd
AdAlta and Baker IDI sign agreement to identify i-bodies to anti-thrombotic target
Melbourne, Australia, 6th September 2012– AdAlta Pty Ltd (AdAlta), a Melbourne based biotechnology company specialising in the discovery and development of protein based therapeutics, has executed a collaborative research agreement today with Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Research Institute to identify humanised shark antibody binders, known as i-bodies, to a number of anti-thrombotic targets.
AdAlta will screen its i-body library on the anti-thrombotic drug targets in collaboration with Baker IDI and the Institute will then evaluate the potential of the i-body binders as diagnostic and therapeutic drugs.
Baker IDI is working on the next generation targets that will prevent clotting, or dissolve clots that have caused a heart attack or stroke without the excessive bleeding complications that are a feature of currently available drugs. Baker IDI is also working towards the identification of biomarkers (such as elevated levels of certain proteins in the blood) which, when added to existing knowledge of family history and lifestyle risk, help predict coronary plaque rupture.
Targeting of thrombolytic drugs to clots with AdAlta’s i-body technology is a promising alternative approach to create fibrinolytic agents with enhanced thrombolytic potency, less bleeding problems and tuneable half life for diagnostic imaging or therapeutic application and may thus represent a potential way out of the current stagnation in thrombolysis.
“We are excited to be working with Baker IDI in this area to apply the i-body technology to the Institute’s targets” said Samantha Cobb, CEO of AdAlta.
“We are looking forward to a productive collaboration and exciting work with AdAlta” said Prof Karlheinz Peter and Dr Christoph Hagemeyer, the two lead scientists on this project from Baker IDI.
“We have selected targets with high clinical relevance and feel that humanised shark antibodies have a great potential as next generation therapeutics and diagnostics in the cardiovascular field. We hope to develop better drugs for the treatment of heart attacks and to ultimately prevent heart attacks through the identification of the patient at risk.”
AdAlta is pioneering a new technology that uses the human equivalent of the shark antibody, known as the i-body, that can be used as therapeutic interventions or diagnostic markers in disease, offering optimistic prospects for new and more effective approaches to a wide range of human diseases.
These novel i-body libraries can be screened in the lab against a target to identify a diagnostic or therapeutic lead candidate. I-bodies show high target specificity and high affinity for their target. Furthermore, they are extremely stable and ideally suited as imaging agents or as therapeutic drugs.
About AdAlta
AdAlta Pty Ltd (AdAlta) is an Australian based biotechnology company discovering and developing protein based therapeutics.
AdAlta aims to provide an alternative approach to drug discovery by finding novel shark antibody or i-bodies for therapeutic or diagnostic application.
Like conventional antibodies, shark antibodies have high target specificity and high affinity for their target. An i-body is a based on a human protein which has similar structure to the shark antibody. AdAlta uses this human protein as a scaffold to build a library of compounds with unique features similar to the shark antibody. The i-bodies are stable at high temperatures and low pH and can be manufactured in bacterial systems. In addition to the stability, the i-body has a long binding loop that human antibodies and other next generation antibodies do not have. The i-body with this long binding loop can target sites that traditionally antibodies can’t, such as clefts in cell surface receptors or the active sites of enzymes or targets such as GPCRs.
AdAlta Pty Ltd
Contact: Samantha Cobb, CEO
Tel: +61 3 9479 5159
www.adalta.com.au/home.aspx
About Baker IDI:
Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute is an independent, internationally-renowned medical research facility, with a history spanning more than 85 years. The Institute’s work extends from the laboratory to wide-scale community studies with a focus on diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The Institute’s mission is to reduce death and disability from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and related disorders; two prevalent and complex diseases responsible for the most deaths and the highest health costs in the world.
Baker IDI
Media contact: Christina Hickie
Tel: 03 8532 1129 or 0417 130 420
www.bakeridi.edu.au
We are excited to be working with Baker IDI in this area to apply the i-body technology to the Institute’s targets” said Samantha Cobb, CEO of AdAlta.