Abraxis buys rights to Buck Institute for Age Research technology

Abraxis BioScience, an integrated, USA-based biopharmaceutical company, has reached agreement with the Buck Institute for Age Research that provides the firm with exclusive worldwide intellectual property rights for technologies designed to generate novel therapeutics and identify new drug discovery targets. Financial terms were not disclosed. Abraxis's shares edged up 1.7% to $20.89 after the deal was announced, on August 6.

Included in the licensed technologies are a novel immunotherapeutic/anticancer compound (T9) and highly sensitive cell-based assay systems for the discovery of additional immune-modulating drugs. T9 is a highly potent, bi-functional molecule with the ability to kill cancer cells and to activate the immune response to recognize cancer cells in a manner analogous to childhood vaccination.

"These proprietary cell-based assay systems are a natural fit for our proprietary 'nab' (nanoparticle albumin-bound) technology platform and our proprietary natural product and synthetic drug discovery efforts," said Patrick Soon-Shiong, chief executive of Abraxis. "In this new era of personalized medicine, we believe this program will generate a novel pipeline of drugs for Abraxis that provide the promise of cancer treatments with greater efficacy and fewer side effects," he added.