Functional therapeutic antibody specialists Velabs Therapeutics has entered into an exclusive licence agreement with alytas therapeutics for the development and commercialisation of alytas’ antibodies in the field of senescence, related degenerative processes and pathologies.
Velabs Therapeutics, a young start-up biotech of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), is a pioneer of microfluidic technology for the screening of antibodies with modulatory function on complex signalling proteins such as GPCRs, ion channels or other regulatory proteins. Switzerland-based Velabs offers its screening know-how and capacities for pharmaceutical collaborations worldwide.
alytas specialises in the research of fat metabolism in connection with obesity, with a programme based on several proprietary protein epitopes with high relevance for the immunological regulation of excess adipocytes and has already been conceptually confirmed in vitro and in vivo.
In addition to existing partnerships, Velabs is currently building its own pipeline of therapeutic antibody candidates for further development. Part of this pipeline is antibody-based senolytics, a class of drugs designed to prevent cell and tissue degeneration that can occur during the ageing process by eliminating so-called “senescent cells.” In a previous strategic partnership, alytas and Velabs co-developed different sets of preclinical antibodies for a novel immune-based obesity treatment. The current licence will allow Velabs to exclusively develop these antibodies against senescence-related degenerative processes.
Both indications, obesity and senescence, together with their associated co-morbidities, are conditions with unmet medical need and enormous market potential. Christoph Antz, Managing Director of Velabs, explained that the agreement will allow the development a completely new treatment against age-related decline of body functions.
“We are confident that this new approach has the potential to open new ways towards less associated deteriorations, higher degrees of vitality and better health conditions during human ageing process, thus increasing quality of life at older age and reducing the burden of age-related diseases and complaints,” Antz said.
Both companies are financed by XLife Science, alytas is also managed by the company.
