IONTAS and FairJourney Biologics Enter Antibody Discovery Agreement with Quell Therapeutics
Diverse panel of novel target binders from IONTAS / FJB will be used to uncover functional antibodies to advance Quell’s engineered Treg cell therapy pipeline
CAMBRIDGE, UK, PORTO, PORTUGAL, and LONDON, UK — March 8, 2021 — IONTAS Limited (IONTAS) and FairJourney Biologics S.A (FJB), leaders in the discovery and optimization of fully human antibodies, have announced that they have entered into an agreement with Quell Therapeutics Limited (Quell) regarding IONTAS / FJB’s proprietary libraries and technology platforms.
Quell is harnessing the suppressive capacity of Tregs to develop engineered Treg cell therapies to address several conditions of immune dysfunction. Under the terms of the agreement, IONTAS / FJB will provide Quell with a diverse panel of novel target binders, ranging in affinities, to enable Quell to select functional binders for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) development against undisclosed targets. The collaboration is non-exclusive and further terms of the agreement are not being disclosed.
Dr. Antonio Parada, CEO at IONTAS, commented: “Our experience in antibody discovery for use in cell-based therapies has grown in recent years, with a number of undisclosed partnerships rapidly moving towards the clinic. This insight will allow us to address the specific needs of Quell and we look forward to generating a diverse set of antibodies for further study and eventual clinical use by Quell in their engineered Treg cell therapy product candidates.”
Dr. Luke Henry, vice president operations & corporate development at Quell Therapeutics, said: “The experience in antibody discovery shared by IONTAS and FJB, together with their unique library of target binders, makes them ideal partners as we focus on expanding our pipeline into autoimmune diseases and neuroinflammation. Such binders will be incorporated within our Modular Engineered Treg product candidates as we progress towards clinical candidates.”