Athera and Medirista sign agreement to transfer the Annexin A5 project
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN – Aug 23, 2013. Athera Biotechnologies AB, a Karolinska Development AB portfolio company, today announced that the rights to the recombinant Annexin A5 have been transferred to Medirista AB. Medirista is a biotech company owned by the original innovators of the Annexin A5 project, Johan and Anna Frostegård. The whole patent portfolio together with key preclinical assets have been transferred. Athera will continue its focus on development of the lead product candidate, the fully human antibody in atherosclerosis.
Recombinant Annexin A5 has been developed to preclinical stage by Athera as an anti-inflammatory therapy, primarily targeting prevention of complications following vascular surgery. Annexin A5 has been shown to beneficially affect remodelling in a preclinical model of coronary bypass grafting. Another study showed that low doses of Annexin A5 could prevent injury in a model mimicking catheter-based percutaneous interventions (PCI) in mice. Millions of PCI procedures are done per year due to acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and the number is rapidly increasing.
About Athera Biotechnologies AB
Athera has a unique and in-depth understanding of the immunological components in atherosclerosis, the inflammatory process leading to cardiovascular disease (CVD). The lead product candidate, the fully human antibody PC-mAb, is in late preclinical development. In addition, Athera has developed a biomarker and companion diagnostic CVDefine® kit. The biomarker, anti-PC, is linked to increased risk for cardiovascular disease and could in the future be used for identification of patients that benefit from Athera’s novel therapeutics. Future development costs for the antibody therapy will be co-financed by the EU FP7 program, in the project CARDIMMUN. Athera has an exclusive option agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim. Karolinska Development AB owns 65% of Athera Biotechnologies AB. For more information, please visit www.athera.se.
For further Information:
Carina Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer, Athera Biotechnologies AB
Tel: +46 76 193 81 90
E-mail: c.schmidt@athera.se