The Start-up company will develop therapeutic antibodies against novel targets in the fields of cancer and inflammation.
Transgene SA (Euronext Paris: TNG)(Paris:TNG), a biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted immunotherapy products to treat major unmet medical needs in cancer and chronic infectious diseases, today announced its participation to the first private equity round of Elsalys Biotech, a newly created therapeutic monoclonal antibody player.
With more than 40 marketed products and 250 products under development, monoclonal antibodies are more than ever at the heart of the new arsenal of therapeutics for cancer and inflammatory diseases. Nevertheless, even though the production of monoclonal antibodies has become standardized, the generation of an effective antibody with an optimal profile remains a scientific challenge which requires to bring together unique skills, all present within the ElsaLys Biotech team.
In the short term, ElsaLys Biotech will focus on the development of antibodies against targets from academic collaborators up to characterized drug candidates with robust in vivo proof of concept. Clinical development will be conducted through strategic partnerships.
Other investors are the investment firm Sofimac Partners and the founding managers. Sofimac Partners and Transgene are the largest shareholders, although each with a minority holding.
“Transgene is going through a significant investment program in TG4010, a therapeutic vaccine, and Pexa-Vec, an oncolytic immunotherapy. Through our equity investment in ElsaLys Biotech, we keep a stand in the promising field of monoclonal antibodies without changing our strategic focus.” said Philippe Archinard, Chairman and CEO of Transgene.
“Our objective is to bring a first antibody drug candidate to IND enabling studies within the next three years” said Dr. Jean-Yves Bonnefoy, co-founder and CEO of ElsaLys Biotech. He added: “To reach this goal, we benefit from the following competitive advantages: expertise and know-how in the field of immunotherapy acquired at Transgene, a solid experience in the domain of therapeutic antibodies, a very promising set of first-in-class targets as well as funding from investors combining strong technological expertise and financial means”.
