Pepscan Enters Research Collaboration with Cytos
Biotechnology for Identification of Novel Conformational
Peptide Antigens
December 14, 2004. Lelystad (NL)
Pepscan Systems (Lelystad, The Netherlands) today announced that it entered into a research and
license option agreement with Cytos Biotechnology AG (Schlieren, Switzerland, SWX:CYTN) for the
identification of novel peptide antigens to generate peptide-based therapeutic vaccines . Under the
collaboration Pepscan will use its CLIPSTM technology to map and reconstruct the receptor interaction
site of a cytokine which Cytos Biotechnology intends to target in one of its Immunodrug
TM
development programs. Short peptides which display the receptor binding site of the cytokine will be
linked to one of Cytos Biotechnology's Immunodrug
TM
carriers and tested in preclinical models for
their ability to induce neutralizing antibodies. Under the agreement Cytos Biotechnology obtained an
option to in-license collaboration products and technologies for further development and
commercialization. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed.
Martin Bachmann, CSO of Cytos Biotechnology commented: "We look forward to work with Pepscan
on this interesting project. We believe that Pepscan has a leading technology to reduce the complexity
of target antigens for vaccine development."
"We are very excited about this collaboration", says Peter van Dijken, CCO of Pepscan. "The
combination of Cytos Biotechnology's and Pepscan's expertise in the field of recombinant vaccines
could yield novel vaccine candidates addressing "self-proteins" that until now have proven difficult to
target due to technical and biological constraints."
Cytos Biotechnology AG is a public Swiss biotechnology company that specializes in the discovery,
development and commercialization of a new class of biopharmaceutical products the
ImmunodrugsTM. ImmunodrugsTM are intended for use in the treatment and prevention of common
chronic diseases, which afflict millions of people worldwide. ImmunodrugTM candidates
are designed
to instruct the patient's immune system to produce desired therapeutic antibody or cytotoxic T-cell
responses that modulate chronic disease processes. Taking advantage of the high flexibility of its
ImmunodrugTM platform, Cytos Biotechnology has built a pipeline of 27 different ImmunodrugTM
candidates in various disease areas, which are developed both in-house and together with Novartis.
Founded in 1995 as a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, the
company is located in Schlieren (Zurich). Currently, the company has 110 employees. Cytos
Biotechnology AG has been listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange (SWX:CYTN) since October 2002.
Pepscan Systems is private Dutch-based company that has technology for the mapping and
reconstruction of complex protein interaction sites (CLIPSTM technology, Chemically Linked Peptides
on Scaffolds). CLIPSTM consist of spatially defined peptide loops grafted onto molecular templates
that efficiently mimic the native structure of whole protein domains. Pepscan is a spin-off from
Wageningen University and currently employs 25 people. Pepscan exploits its technology in
collaborative agreements and in a proprietary pipeline of synthetic vaccines. The first product, a
prostate cancer vaccine, has been partnered with Chiron.
For further information contact:
Pepscan
Systems
BV
