Pepscan agrees research collaboration with Tibotec
Will use CLIPS to develop therapeutic peptides
Pepscan Therapeutics, a Netherlands-based biotechnology firm focused on protein mimicry technology for the generation of novel therapeutics, has signed a research and license agreement with Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, Ireland.
Under the agreement Pepscan, using its CLIPS (Chemical LInkage of Peptides onto Scaffolds) technology, will work with Tibotec to develop novel therapeutic peptides against an undisclosed target.
Pepscan will receive r&d funding and could receive payments on the achievement of research and clinical milestones, as well as royalties on sales. Financial details were not disclosed.
‘We are convinced that our strong technology and expertise can yield improved peptides with superior activity and proteolytic stability, all this with a significantly shorter peptide,’ said Wim Mol, ceo of Pepscan.
CLIPS presents one or more peptides in a structurally constrained configuration. These molecules behave as functional mimics of complex protein domains. CLIPS peptides have been used in antibody and vaccine programmes to create superior immunogens in the generation of antibodies against disease relevant protein targets. This is especially valuable in the case of proteins that are inaccessible as recombinant proteins, such as GPCRs, says Pepscan.