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MediGene and sanofi pasteur to undertake a collaborative Research Agreement to develop high affinity monoclonal T cell receptors

20 Dec 2006 - MediGene AG announced that it has signed an agreement with sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of sanofi-aventis. The agreement is to use the novel high affinity monoclonal T cell receptors (mTCRs) to directly validate presentation of specific T cell epitopes important in vaccine development and clinical trials. MediGene recently acquired the mTCR technology with the acquisition of Avidex Ltd. The mTCR technology enables the production of fully human, soluble T cell receptors with high affinity. These mTCRs recognise and bind to specific antigens presented by the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC).
 
MediGene will undertake the research programme using high affinity mTCRs which recognise specific HLA-peptide complexes on the surface of antigen presenting cells or tumor cells. The research has the objective of creating vaccine validation tools for sanofi pasteur by detecting these complexes.
 
According to the company, the monoclonal T cell receptor (mTCR) technology platform enables the production of fully human, soluble T cell receptors with picomolar affinity and exceptional selectivity. Unlike conventional therapeutic antibodies, mTCRs are ideal for targeting agents for all disease proteins; including intracellular tumour targets thereby offering a substantial advantage in the number of disease specific targets available.