Salipro Biotech and Icosagen to Collaborate on Antibody Discovery

Sweden-based Salipro Biotech and Estonia-based Icosagen, a contract research, development, and manufacturing organization, announced on Oct. 10, 2023 that they have entered into a multi-target antibody research agreement to advance drug discovery programs. The companies intend to discover and characterize monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against several challenging membrane proteins, including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and solute carrier (SLC) transporters.

Under the agreement, Icosagen will leverage its expertise in protein production and analytics. The company’s knowledge in antibody discovery encompasses high-throughput antibody screening and a variety of lead optimization techniques that the company expects will support the collaboration and form a solid basis for future biologic drug development, according to a company press release.

The partnership between the companies aims to build on Salipro's strength in establishing multiple collaboration and licensing agreements with leading pharma and biotech companies that enable drug discovery against complex membrane protein targets. The company’s experience includes small-molecule drug discovery programs as well as structural biology and antibody discovery.

“Our Salipro technology provides an enabling platform for the discovery of therapeutics against challenging drug targets. We are excited to unlock the potential of these targets with Icosagen and develop novel drugs that can improve patient outcomes," said Jens Frauenfeld, CEO of Salipro Biotech, in the press release.

"We are delighted to apply our QMCF technology and protein analytics capabilities in this project. Both teams in Icosagen and Salipro Biotech are always finding ways to push the boundaries in novel technologies of biologics development. It will be interesting to see what we’ll be able to achieve as we put our heads together for this project,” said Mart Ustav Jr., chief scientific officer, Icosagen, in the release.

Source: Salipro Biotech