Merck Millipore Announces Agreement with Precision Biologics
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Merck Millipore has announced an agreement for providing upstream process development services for Precision Biologics, Inc., a Texas-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, to advance a preclinical monoclonal antibody.
The antibody, NEO-201, binds to a tumor-specific antigen found in several forms of cancer, offering therapeutic potential across multiple cancer types, including colorectal, lung, ovarian, and pancreatic, an especially deadly cancer with limited treatment options.
Under the agreement, Merck Millipore will provide process development through its Provantage® Services offering, which leverages the company’s deep expertise in biopharmaceutical manufacturing to help customers design and develop custom processes that improve yield and productivity while reducing costs and accelerating time to market. The process development will occur at Merck Millipore’s single-use GMP biodevelopment center in Martillac, France.
“We chose to partner with Merck Millipore because of their legacy of scientific and process development expertise,” said Philip M. Arlen, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Precision Biologics, Inc. “In addition to their experience in the development of processes for manufacturing monoclonal antibodies, their approach to the structure of our partnership was very appealing and well-suited to an emerging company like ours. We are confident that Merck Millipore will be a valuable partner in advancing NEO-201 and helping to bring a potential new therapeutic to patients in need.”
“We are delighted to partner with Precision Biologics, Inc. to support the process development for NEO-201 and its anticipated progression into clinical trials,” said Udit Batra, President and Chief Executive Officer of Merck Millipore.
Batra continued, “Our Provantage® team is committed to developing an efficient, effective and robust manufacturing process to help reduce the time and cost required to advance this important pre-clinical drug candidate into the next phase for clinical production.”
