ImmunoPrecise and TetraGenetics extend alliance to discover therapeutic antibodies for autoimmune disease

ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd (CVE:IPA) (OTCMKTS:IPAF) is extending its collaboration with TetraGenetics to focus on the discovery of therapeutic antibodies, the company announced Tuesday.

Victoria-based ImmunoPrecise is working with TetraGenetics to discover new human monoclonal antibodies against three undisclosed, therapeutically-relevant ion channels, it said in a statement.

Shares of ImmunoPrecise rose nearly 3% in Canada to C$0.82 and were up nearly 6% to US$0.62 in the US by midday Tuesday.

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TetraGenetics is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics to treat autoimmune diseases. The partnership is ongoing since 2017, when TetraGenetics signed an agreement with ModiQuest, which was later acquired by ImmunoPrecise.

The Massachusetts-based company’s unique capability to generate high concentrations of difficult-to-produce ion channel proteins is what originally caught the attention of ImmunoPrecise, according to Jennifer Bath, ImmunoPrecise’s CEO.

“TetraGenetics will provide us with unique screening formulations which should be highly effective for antibody discovery with our proprietary libraries,” said Bath. “We’re look forward to a close collaboration with TetraGenetics and are excited by the potential of combining the two unique technologies.”

A key feature of the partnership will be using ImmunoPrecise’s customized phage library technology to enable deep mining of the company’s patient library repertoire to identify rare and functional monoclonal antibodies and develop them as therapeutics.

“Combining TetraGenetics and ImmunoPrecise proprietary technologies is likely to lead to the discovery of novel therapeutic antibodies to previously intractable targets for a variety of unmet medical needs,” said Ted Clark, chief scientific officer and founder of TetraGenetics.

ImmunoPrecise is concentrating on discovering the most relevant next-generation antibodies that it feels has the highest probability of succeeding through clinical trials.

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Story by ProactiveInvestors