Pepscan Systems, AlgoNomics, Proteomika and partners to develop pancreatic cancer therapies.

Lelystad, (NL), Bilbao (ES), Ghent (BE), Utrecht (NL), Madrid (E), Strasbourg (F) February 2, 2005  - The companies Pepscan Systems, Proteomika and AlgoNomics obtained research funding within the 6 th framework scientific program of the EU together with the University Medical Centre (UMC) in Utrecht (the Netherlands), the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) in Madrid (Spain), and the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg (France).

This project which was initiated by Pepscan Systems BV who also coordinates it, is sponsored by the EU with a research grant of 1.2 million euros (1.6 million $). This grant will be used to develop fully synthetic antibodies to treat pancreatic cancer. The chemically synthesized antibodies known as ‘Binding Bodies’ represent a novel approach for the production of protein-based molecules that are highly specific for their target molecules. Using the specialized skills of the other consortium partners, neutralizing Binding Bodies against gastrin will be developed .

Gastrin plays an important role in driving the progression of pancreatic cancer, a disease which is almost invariably fatal and for which there is currently no cure.

Pancreatic cancer is diagnosed 60,000 times in the USA and the EU each year. Almost the same number of people die of this disease each year. This illustrates that existing therapies have little effect once the disease is diagnosed; survival time after diagnosis is approximately 80 days; gastrin is a major tumour growth factor. Recently a vaccine against gastrin was developed that is able to double the survival time and to improve the quality of life of pancreatic cancer patients. Unfortunately only a limited number of individuals respond to the vaccine and produce antibodies; even then the development of antibodies is slow, a feature that is especially problematic in the case of this fast progressing disease.

This project will attempt to develop an alternative therapy akin to passive immunisation, which will take effect immediately in all treated individuals. To this end, we propose to develop high affinity and low cost synthetic antibodies against gastrin.

To develop effective Binding Bodies for gastrin, the expertise of the six consortium partners will be combined.

• Pepscan Systems BV (The Netherlands) will develop and produce the Binding Bodies using its CLIPS™ technology (Chemically Linked Peptides on Scaffolds). .
• Algonomics NV ( Belgium) will apply its structural bioinformatics platform Tripole® to rationally design optimized Binding Bodies.
• Proteomika ( Spain) will apply the Binding Bodies to develop new diagnostic tools.
• CNIO ( Spain) will apply its recombinant antibody technology, ,
• University Louis Pasteur ( France) will provide a detailed characterisation of the Binding Bodies.
• UMC Utrecht (the Netherlands) will assess the biological efficacy of the Binding Bodies.

Contact
AlgoNomics N.V.
ir. Philippe Stas
COO
Technologiepark 4
B-9052 Gent – Belgium
Tel.: +32.(0)496.55.30.06
Fax.: +32.(0)9.241.11.02
Philippe.Stas@algonomics.com