Dive Brief:
- German company Merck KGaA has inked a deal with Acticor Biotech through its life science business MilliporeSigma to provide manufacturing support for the biotech's antibody fragment, ACT-017, for the treatment of ischemic stroke.
- The deal is for MilliporeSigma's Provantage End-to-End services, and aims to speed ACT-017 through development and manufacturing. The services include process development, current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) clinical manufacturing, quality and regulatory support, training, commercial facilities design, engineering and build-up, equipment supply and process technical transfer.
- ACT-017 targets platelet glycoprotein VI (GPVI) and is in preclinical development in collaboration with Mediolanum.
Dive Insight:
Acticor Biotech, a Paris-based business spun out from Inserm in late-2013, focuses on treatment of ischemic stroke.
Across the U.S. and Europe, there are around 1.5 million strokes a year, and Transparency Market Research estimates that the acute ischemic stroke diagnosis and treatment market could be worth as much as $1.9 billion by the end of 2020, with a CAGR of 6.3%. Currently, the only medical treatment approved by the FDA for acute ischemic stroke is an intravenous infusion of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) which dissolves the clot.
"Executing full process development for the antibody fragment… will help accelerate this important new molecule through the pipeline to patients in need," says Udit Batra, member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO of MilliporeSigma.
MilliporeSigma was created through Merck KGaA's $17 billion acquisition of chemical solutions company Sigma-Aldrich in 2015. Merck's laboratory supply business, including EMD Millipore, is worth more than $6 billion annually and is known as Merck Life Sciences outside the U.S.
"Through our collaboration with Merck, we now have access to a comprehensive set of development and manufacturing services that will help us deliver on our mission," said Gilles Avenard, CEO of Acticor Biotech, in a statement.
Acticor Biotech's initial seed round was raised through the crowd funding platform Anaxago in 2015.