Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and The Experimental Therapeutics Institute (ETI) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have entered into an agreement to accelerate the discovery of fully human antibodies directed against therapeutic targets that are being researched by Mount Sinai investigators.
Monoclonal antibodies have recently been established as an important new class of drugs, and dozens have been approved by regulatory agencies as therapeutic agents. Monoclonal antibodies are able to disrupt disease pathology by blocking receptors or interfering with cell-to-cell transmission.
Regeneron will provide the ETI with access to VelocImmune® technology and potential financial support to use the company's proprietary antibody discovery platform to generate antibodies against targets of interest and to explore potential therapeutic applications for human disease.
VelocImmune is a genetic engineering platform that enables the fast and efficient creation of superior fully human monoclonal antibodies for drug development.
ETI’s mission will be to undertake preclinical research. Regeneron has an exclusive option to negotiate a license to the antibody for future clinical development and commercialization.
Commenting on the partnership, Dennis S. Charney, M.D., the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and president for Academic Affairs at the Mount Sinai Health System, said in a press statement, “It is through partnerships like this that Mount Sinai remains on the forefront of translational research and therapeutic discoveries, and we hope to soon see the fruits of our collaboration with Regeneron,” said “This agreement brings together Mount Sinai's deep biology and clinical expertise and Regeneron's unique antibody technology,” said Drew Murphy, Ph.D., senior vice president, Research of Regeneron Laboratories, in a press statement. “Both our organizations are part of the rapidly maturing New York bioscience ecosystem and share a deep commitment to improving human health by pursuing innovative science.”
“This collaboration with Regeneron is a unique opportunity to develop medications based on the cutting-edge research at Mount Sinai, ultimately helping to improve health outcomes and quality of life for many people,” said Paul Kenny, Ph.D., Ward-Coleman professor and chair of the Dorothy H. and Lewis Rosenstiel Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and director of the Experimental Therapeutics Institute.
