Affibody AB and GE Healthcare in Molecular Collaboration

Affibody AB (Stockholm, Sweden) has entered a research agreement with GE Healthcare (Chalfont Sr. Giles, UK), a division of the General Electric Co.. Under the agreement, Affibody will provide Affibody molecules for three disease targets as defined by GE Healthcare.

Affibody molecules, with their favorable biodistribution, high target specificity, and acceptability to protein-engineering approaches, are considered suitable candidates for targeted in vivo imaging applications. The goal is to allow early diagnosis of disease and thereby allowing clinicians to optimize the therapy on a customized basis. Under the agreement, GE Healthcare has the exclusive option to take any licenses required for developing and marketing imaging agents resulting from this collaboration. Affibody retains all rights for use of the selected Affibody molecules outside the scope of in vivo diagnostic and medical imaging.

Dr. Ulf Boberg, chief executive officer, Affibody, commented, "We are delighted to announce an agreement with GE Healthcare, regarded as a leader in the rapidly expanding field of molecular imaging. This agreement broadens the current uses of Affibody molecules in medicine, and demonstrates the increasing interest in the use of molecular imaging agents to monitor disease.”

Affibody uses innovative protein engineering technologies for the development of the affinity ligand, Affibody molecules. These small, robust protein molecules can be designed to bind to a number of target proteins, are easily produced, and have a high stability in a broad range of conditions. They appear well-suited for molecular imaging, and when combined with a cytotoxic payload, could potentially be utilized for targeted therapy.

Affibody also develops Affibody molecules for various biotechnology applications in a number of commercial collaborations. Affibody was founded in 1998 by researchers from the Royal Institute of Technology and the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden).



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