Abmaxis, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, and BioArctic Neuroscience AB, a Swedish biotechnology company focused on the development of new treatments and diagnostics for Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, announced today that they have signed a collaborative development agreement to jointly develop a therapeutic human monoclonal antibody for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

BioArctic's new antibody treatment strategy is based on discoveries made by Prof. Lars Lannfelt and his research team at Uppsala University. He discovered the Arctic mutation in familial Alzheimer's disease and identified a toxic component considered to cause the disease. BioArctic has developed murine monoclonal antibodies targeting this component. Using its unique antibody technology, Abmaxis will further optimize and humanize BioArctic's murine antibodies. Under the terms of the agreement, BioArctic will pay Abmaxis an upfront technology license fee and Abmaxis is also entitled to receive future milestone payments and royalties on product sales.

Dr. Par Gellerfors, President and Chief Executive Officer of BioArctic, commented, "We are confident that Abmaxis' structure-centric approach can deliver a superior drug candidate for further development into an effect drug for Alzheimer's disease.

(http://biz.yahoo.com)