Swedish biotech company Salipro Biotech AB and Estonian biotechnology company Icosagen have entered into a multi-target antibody research agreement to advance drug discovery programs against several challenging membrane proteins, including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and solute carrier (SLC) transporters.
The partnership between Salipro Biotech and Icosagen will build on Salipro’s track record of establishing multiple collaboration and licensing agreements with leading pharma and biotech companies to enable drug discovery against complex membrane protein targets, ranging from small molecule drug discovery programs to 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.
Icosagen brings significant expertise in protein production and analytics to the partnership. Their knowledge in antibody discovery, encompassing high-throughput antibody screening and variety of lead optimization techniques will enrich the collaboration and form solid basis for supporting biologic drug developments in the future.
Mart Ustav Jr., CSO of Icosagen, said: “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.”
