Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT) and Progenika Biopharma announced today that the companies have entered into a development and commercialization agreement for LPLchipTM, a diagnostic tool to rapidly diagnose patients with complete and partial lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD). AMT has developed Glybera® as a gene therapy for patients with this disease.
In June of this year AMT announced new clinical data showing that a one-time administration of its lead product Glybera® results in significant long-term health benefits for LPLD patients. Long-term follow-up data from two clinical trials with complete LPLD patients show that Glybera® therapy results in a significant and clinically important reduction in acute pancreatitis, the most debilitating complication of the disease. The data also confirm that the therapy is well-tolerated and safe. AMT intends to file Glybera® for marketing approval with EMEA by the end of this year.
LPLchipTM based on the Progenika’s DNA-chip technology, will be used to rapidly diagnose patients with complete and partial LPLD and will be important to effectively identify patients that could benefit from Glybera ®.
AMT has selected Progenika as a partner for the development of LPLchipTM because of the company’s long-standing expertise in the development of diagnostic chips and its access to both European and North American markets. Jörn Aldag, CEO of AMT commented: “We are delighted to work with Progenika on the development of the LPLchipTM, as the company brings a unique expertise that fits the diagnostic needs for LPLD. LPLchipTM will be an important tool in early patient diagnosis, enabling us to make Glybera® available to the right patients as quickly as possible.” Antonio Martínez, CEO of Progenika Biopharma said: “This collaborative project demonstrates how DNA-based diagnostics and highly targeted gene therapy can be combined to bring personalized medicine to patient groups whose medical needs were previously unmet."
With the collaboration of:
