Boca company acquires transplant antibody

by Corey Siggins

April 17, 2006

An antibody designed to prevent and treat organ transplant rejection will now be available across North America.

Boca Raton-based Nabi Biopharmaceuticals has signed an agreement with German firm Fresenius Biotech to exclusively sell and distribute ATG-Fresenius S to the United States and Canada for up to 15 years.

An immunosuppressive polyclonal antibody currently used in more than 60 countries, ATG has been noted for significantly reducing transplant failure with solid organs-heart, liver, kidneys -- and improving survival rates. Over 150,000 transplant patients have been successfully treated with the antibody.

ATG works by selectively suppressing activated cells that are primarily responsible for the rejection of transplanted organs.

According to Thomas Rathjen, vice president of investor relations for Nabi, ATG has noticeable advantages over similar antibodies in the marketplace.

"For one thing, doses of ATG only have to be administered once a day instead of multiple times," Rathjen said. "The number and severity of side effects are definitely less with ATG as well."

Statistics compiled by Nabi point out that over 26,000 solid organ transplants were conducted in America during 2004. Such transplants have been increasing at an annual rate of 4 percent per year.

Some of Nabi's other product offerings have focused on creating solutions for organ transplant issues that could endanger patients in the future.

One of the company's more celebrated products is Nabi-HB, often considered the gold standard in the nation for preventing hepatitis B re-infection among patients who have had liver transplants.

"We felt that ATG would be another great addition to our existing transplant franchise," Rathjen said.

Under the deal, Nabi has taken over an ongoing placebo-controlled Phase III clinical study in the United States and Europe to see if ATG can work with lung transplant patients.

"Besides that, we may run further studies to determine the effect of the antibody on non-solid organ areas such as bone marrow transplantation," Rathjen said. "There are a lot of possibilities here."

Nabi will make annual $1 million payments to Fresenius while development of ATG is taking place. Upon approval of ATG by the FDA, a $4 million payment will be given.

In exchange for manufacturing and supplying ATG at its European facility, Fresenius will receive additional royalties from sales of the antibody.

Rathjen remarked that Nabi expects to have ATG ready for release sometime in early 2009.

Officials at Fresenius expressed happiness with the partnership.

"We are very pleased to have found an experienced partner in transplantation medicine that can continue and expand the current clinical development program of ATG," said Dr. Thomas Gottwald, CEO of Fresenius.

Contact Corey Siggins at 561-549-0845 or at csiggins@bocanews.com.

Copyright © 2006 Boca Raton News.

This article posted May 21, 2006.