Celera enters cancer R&D accord with Medarex

Celera Genomics and fellow USA-based Medarex, an antibody specialist, have agreed to a strategic collaboration to discover and develop fully-human antibodies for the treatment of multiple cancer indications.

The accord will utilize targets identified by Celera's proteomic research efforts as being over-expressed on the surface of tumor cells and subsequently validated through additional research by the firm.

Under the terms of the deal, the companies will jointly select targets from Celera's portfolio while Medarex will generate fully-human monoclonal antibodies against them using its proprietary UltiMAb Human Antibody Development System. The two companies will share the burden of initial validation studies.