Tetragenetics, an emerging biotechnology company engaged in the expression of ion channel drug targets, has announced a new partnership program for the discovery and development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against well-known ion channel drug targets implicated in a wide range of disease states—such as pain and autoimmune disorders.

Founding partners participating in the program include argenx, Crystal Bioscience and Sevion Therapeutics.

The program combines Tetragenetics’ unique and proprietary antigen production capabilities with each partner’s novel antibody discovery platform. The approach incorporates broad phylogenetic diversity to ensure the highest probability of success and marks an important shift in Tetragenetics’ business model to develop its own pipeline of preclinical antibody assets.

Tetragenetics CEO Doug Kahn added, “We’ve identified some highly sought after, but challenging drug targets and we are pleased to have these three initial partners pursuing independent mAb discovery programs against them. We believe this partnership program, with its phylogenetic diversity, has great potential for producing human drugs against these well-validated targets. The combination of Tetragenetics’ unique proteins and our partners’ novel antibody discovery platforms is powerful and unprecedented in our industry.”