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Crucell Teams up with ACE BioSciences and Harvard to Accelerate Bacterial Antibody Program
04 Nov 2005 -
Crucell N.V. announced that it has licensed bacterial antigens from ACE BioSciences A/S and the Brigham and Women's Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, to accelerate its bacterial antibody discovery program. The bacterial surface antigens licensed have been validated for therapeutic efficacy in appropriate animal models for bacterial disease.
Crucell intends to develop therapeutic antibodies against these targets to treat serious hospital-acquired infections, including those caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In the US and Europe, hospital-acquired bacterial infections now affect about 2 million patients per year causing 200,000 deaths, and attributable costs amount to more than US$ 5 billion in the US alone.
"While vaccines against diseases like influenza, West Nile and malaria are successfully progressing towards Phase I clinical testing, we consider antibody products to be the next area to profit from the strength of the PER.C6® cell substrate platform," said Crucell's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Jaap Goudsmit.
Crucell considers the rise in hospital-acquired infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria to present opportunities for the development of alternative treatments to replace or complement antibiotics. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria increase the severity of disease, escalating mortality rates and driving up costs.
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