Singapore, Jan 8, 2009: The Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), a research consortium under the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), has inked an agreement with Humalys, a French biopharmaceutical company. They intend to speed up the development of antibody-based therapies for use against specific viral diseases prevalent in Asia and Singapore and fuel possible developments of new drugs.

In particular, this collaboration will focus on identifying and characterizing specific human monoclonal antibodies targeted at viral diseases that cause infection, inflammation or immunological disorders. Under this partnership, SIgN will make use of Humalys’ proprietary technology to isolate human monoclonal antibodies and build an antibody platform for studies into their therapeutic efficacy.

According to Jean-Pierre Abastado, Principal Investigator, SIgN, “therapeutic monoclonal antibodies will be useful as they may serve as an alternative treatment for patients with medical conditions which may not have any known remedy or vaccines.”

“With Humalys’ established antibody isolation techniques and SIgN’s in-depth capabilities in immunology and infectious diseases, this collaboration brings about a synergy that will boost the translation of basic scientific knowledge into useful and valuable therapeutics for healthcare,” said Prof Philippe Kourilsky, Chairman, SIgN. “We intend to use collaborations of such nature to address important medical needs, both within and outside the borders of Singapore.”

Dr Philippe Guillot-Chêne, President, Humalys further added, “This collaboration can capture the diversity and harness the effectiveness of the natural human immune system. This commitment from both parties to pursue the discovery of novel human monoclonal antibodies will have a positive and significant impact on areas such as infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders and cancer.”

According to a report by BCC Research published in December 2007, globally, the whole monoclonal antibody market for 2007 was worth $31 billion and is expected to swell to $56 billion by 2012.