Nycomed/Affitech extend research

Nycomed Amersham Imaging, a leader in medical diagnostic imaging and a major provider of radiotherapy products, and Affitech, Oslo, Norway have announced that they have entered into a research agreement for the discovery of fully human antibodies for diagnostic applications, extending the companies' previous two-year collaboration.

Under the new agreement, Affitech will combine its proprietary antibody library technology and its automated affinity maturation process to generate human antibodies against targets provided by Nycomed. Nycomed will use these antibodies to develop and test the company's novel concepts for molecular diagnosis. Although terms are not disclosed, Affitech will retain rights to milestone and royalty payments from any products that incorporate Affitech's proprietary technology.