Covagen and Philogen (IT) announce collaboration
Zurich, Switzerland, November 9, 2007. Philogen (IT) and Covagen (CH) announced today that they have entered a collaboration agreement under which Covagen will use its protein engineering technology to isolate binding proteins against EDB (extra domain B of fibronectin), a target provided by Philogen, for targeted photodynamic applications. EDB is a marker of angiogenesis and has been shown to be useful for the targeted delivery of photosensitizers to neovascular structures in ocular pathological conditions. Covagen will select proteins binding with high affinity to EDB that will be further tested and evaluated by Philogen. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
About Philogen: Philogen is a private biotech company, which develops innovative products and technologies for the diagnosis and therapy of serious human diseases. The company has been a pioneer in the isolation, engineering and clinical development of lead products capable of targeting angiogenesis in vivo and has been the first to demonstrate that human monoclonal antibodies, specific for a marker of angiogenesis, can efficiently and selectively target the tumor neo-vasculature both in animal models and in cancer patients. Philogen has a rich pipeline of products for the treatment of angiogenesis-related diseases, produced with an in-house industrial process. Three products, co-developed together with Bayer Schering Pharma, are currently being tested in clinical trials.
About Covagen: Covagen develops next generation protein drugs for the treatment of diseases by using its proprietary protein engineering technology, which has been developed at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Covagen's innovative platform comprises the recently developed Covalent DNA Display technology and a novel single domain protein scaffold, which - in analogy to antibodies - can be engineered to yield high affinity binding proteins that can be used for therapeutic applications. In addition, the modular structure of Covagen's protein scaffold and its favorable biophysical properties potentially allow for treatment modalities that are difficult or impossible to be exploited with antibodies.