Peregrine reaches new agreement with Merck
Biopharmaceutical company Peregrine Pharmaceuticals has entered into an agreement with Merck KGaA to gain access to Merck's technology and expertise in protein expression.
Biopharmaceutical company Peregrine Pharmaceuticals has entered into an agreement with Merck KGaA to gain access to Merck's technology and expertise in protein expression.
The goal of the collaboration is to use protein expression technologies developed by Merck's affiliate EMD Lexigen Research Centre to advance the development of Peregrine's VEA (Vasopermeation Enhancement Agents) technology platform.
In addition, Peregrine will have access to Merck's proprietary protein expression system to develop and enhance other antibodies and antibody-based fusion proteins under its vascular targeting agent, anti-phospholipid and anti-angiogenesis programmes.
VEAs are a class of agents that enhance the effi-cacy of cancer therapeutics by increasing their uptake into solid tumors. VEAs work by selectively targeting known vasoactive compounds to solid tumours. Once localised at the tumour site, VEAs make blood vessels within a tumour more leaky, allowing administered chemotherapies to better penetrate the tumour mass. In published reports, scientists have seen an almost 400% increase in the normal amount of chemotherapeutic agent taken up by solid tumors with a VEA pre-treatment.
'We are pleased to expand our relationship with Merck and expect this technology to help us speed development of a VEA clinical candidate,' said Steven King, president and ceo of Peregrine.