Regeneron in VelociGene agreement with Sanofi-Aventis
US biopharma company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has entered into an agreement with sanofi-aventis, of France, to use Regeneron\'s proprietary VelociGene technology platform to supply sanofi-aventis with genetically modified mammalian models of gene function and disease.
US biopharma company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has entered into an agreement with sanofi-aventis, of France, to use Regeneron's proprietary VelociGene technology platform to supply sanofi-aventis with genetically modified mammalian models of gene function and disease.
Sanofi-aventis will pay Regeneron a minimum of US$4.3m (Euro 2.8m) annually for five years for knock-out and transgenic models of gene function for target genes identified by sanofi-aventis. Sanofi-aventis will use these models for its internal research programmes, outside the scope of its antibody collaboration with Regeneron.
In November 2007, the two companies entered into a collaboration agreement for the discovery, development, and commercialisation of human monoclonal antibodies based on Regeneron's proprietary VelociSuite of technologies, including VelociGene, VelociMouse, VelocImmune, and VelociMab.
Over the first five years of the antibody agreement, sanofi-aventis is funding discovery research at Regeneron, including target identification, target validation, and antibody development. The VelociGene payments are in addition to the funding to be provided under the antibody agreement.
The VelociGene platform allows custom and precise manipulation of very large sequences of DNA to produce highly customised alterations, ranging from a single nucleotide to many millions of nucleotides, of a specific target gene and accelerates the production of knock-out and transgenic expression models without using either positive/negative selection or isogenic DNA.
