Nordic Nanovector ASA and Affibody AB has announced that the companies have entered into a three-year collaborative research agreement to discover and develop new advanced radio-immunotherapies (RIT) for multiple myeloma.

Backed by a Eurostars grant the project will combine Affibody’s proprietary platforms with Nordic Nanovector's radioimmunotherapy technology. The project aims to provide documentation necessary to start GMP manufacturing of the Affibody-based RIT and subsequently start clinical trials. The companies have been awarded approximately €1m in total by Vinnova in Sweden and The Norwegian Research Council in Norway.

Upon a successful conclusion of the collaboration Nordic Nanovector will have the opportunity to license the global rights to the Affibody- based RIT. The development of an Affibody-based RIT treatment represents a distinct work stream to be carried out in parallel with Nordic Nanovector’s lead product candidate Betalutin for non-Hodgkin Lymphoma treatment.

Luigi Costa, Nordic Nanovector chief executive officer, commented, “The collaboration with Affibody will allow Nordic Nanovector to expand its product pipeline, while at the same time retaining full focus on the clinical development and commercialisation of our lead product candidate, Betalutin. This collaboration serves as an example of how the company intends to leverage its proprietary targeting technology to treat other hematological cancers in need of novel therapeutic approaches.“David Bejker, Affibody chief executive officer, commented, ”We are delighted to enter into this agreement with Nordic Nanovector and see RIT’s as an area with great potential and a logical continuation of some of our research. The Eurostars platform offers an excellent way for two companies with complementary technologies to collaborate and bring novel therapeutics to market and for Affibody, this comes on top of a year of increased uptake for our platform.”