Medarex Inc and Biosite Diagnostics Inc have announced the launch of an alliance aimed at accelerating drug research via Trans-Phage Technology. This high throughput method to create fully human antibodies combines the immunological power of Medarex's HuMAb-Mouse with the speed of Biosite's Omniclonal phage display technology. Through this alliance Biosite and Medarex will offer pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies access to large volumes of high-affinity, fully human antibodies to validate genomic targets and to identify promising drug candidates.

"Trans-Phage Technology represents the best of both worlds," said Donald L. Drakeman, president and chief executive officer of Medarex. "By working with Biosite, which has used phage technology to develop several products that are now on the market and which has a significant intellectual property portfolio, we will be able to offer our partners a powerful new tool in the effort to bring genomics-based products to reality."

"Over the past eight years, we have used our phage display capabilities to develop mouse antibodies to hundreds of targets. Now with Medarex's HuMAb-Mice, we can apply our Omniclonal technology to fully human antibodies," said Kim Blickenstaff, president and chief executive officer of Biosite. "Working together, both Medarex and Biosite are positioned to achieve even more significant collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies."

Medarex and Biosite believe that the novel Trans-Phage Technology will enable scientists to make large volumes of fully human antibodies to virtually any disease target in a fraction of the time typically associated with traditional technologies. The accelerated process is expected to allow for validation of substantially higher numbers of targets, which could increase the chances of discovering successful targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Biosite will receive research funding of $3 million per year over eight years from Medarex, along with research fees and, if any products are generated through the collaboration, milestone payments and royalties. Biosite may also receive diagnostic rights to targets identified through the collaboration.