Peptech signs manufacturing deal

Sydney antibody therapeutics developer Peptech (ASX:PTD) has signed an agreement with an unnamed biopharmaceuticals manufacturer to make its potent anti-inflammatory domain antibody (dAb) for preclinical and human clinical trials.

Peptech chairman Mel Bridges declined to disclose whether it had selected a local or an overseas company to manufacture the anti-TNF dAb, which was developed by its 36 per cent owned UK partner Domantis and subsequently transferred to Peptech under their research agreement.

The company has previously reported the results of a preclinical trial that showed the cut-down antibody molecule is about three times more potent than a current anti-TNF 'blockbuster' drug as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. There are current two conventional anti-TNF monoclonal antibodies on the market -- Remicade, marketed by Johnson and Johnson subsidiary Centocor, and Abbott Laboratories' Humira.

Bridges said Peptech's own researchers have generated a panel of cell lines that produce the anti-TNF dAb in quantities that "rank with the upper end of industry standards".

"Progress in this initial phase of the manufacturing work has given us strong confidence in the potential of these cell lines to sustain commercial levels of production of the anti-TNF protein," he said.