Abbott Laboratories and Caprion Pharmaceuticals Inc. have announced a research collaboration applying Caprion's quantitative proteomics platform, CellCarta, for the discovery of novel antibody targets and the development of therapeutics for the treatment of lung cancer.

Under the terms of the collaboration, Abbott will non-exclusively evaluate a number of drug targets for non-small-cell lung cancer previously discovered by Caprion, as well as a number of additional targets that Caprion discovers in its ongoing lung cancer programme. Abbott will obtain exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize therapeutic applications for its selected targets. Caprion will retain rights to certain other targets for pursuit of internal or partnered product development efforts.

The terms of the agreement include an up-front payment to Caprion, additional payments to Caprion contingent upon successful completion of milestones by both Caprion and Abbott, and royalty payments to Caprion from future product sales by Abbott. Specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"We are excited about the ability of Caprion's proteomics technology to identify novel cell-surface targets for the development of new antibody therapies in cancer," said Stephen Fesik, divisional vice president, Cancer Research, Abbott Laboratories. "Combined with Abbott's depth in the development of monoclonal antibody therapies, Caprion's advances in applying proteomics to lung cancer may substantially accelerate our efforts to deliver new therapies to patients who need them."

"This collaboration with Abbott, Caprion's sixth pharmaceutical proteomics partnership, helps solidify our position as the leader in proteomics-based drug discovery," said Martin LeBlanc, Caprion's EVP & chief operating officer. "In concert with our recent advances in the discovery of drug targets for colon cancer as well as several programs in pharmaco-proteomics and biomarker discovery, we are proving that our distinctive proteomics approach can have a significant impact in the drug discovery process."

CellCarta is Caprion's proprietary proteomics approach for comprehensive and quantitative profiling of the protein complement of cells through comparisons of normal and disease conditions. In cancer, Caprion compares proteins present in purified plasma membranes isolated from normal and diseased tissues, leading to large-scale discovery and functional characterization of cell-surface protein targets and disease markers suitable for the development of targeted antibody therapies.