EMD Millipore, the life science business of Merck of Darmstadt, Germany, has announced an agreement for providing upstream process development services for Precision Biologics, a Texas-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, to advance a preclinical monoclonal antibody. The antibody, NEO-201, binds to a tumor-specific antigen found in several forms of cancer, offering therapeutic potential across multiple cancer types, including colorectal, lung, ovarian and pancreatic, an especially deadly cancer with limited treatment options.

EMD Millipore will provide process development through its Provantage services offering, which leverages the company's experience in biopharmaceutical manufacturing to help customers design and develop custom processes that improve yield and productivity while reducing costs and accelerating time to market. The process development will occur at EMD Millipore's single-use GMP biodevelopment center in Martillac, France.

"We are delighted to partner with Precision Biologics to support the process development for NEO-201 and its anticipated progression into clinical trials," said Udit Batra, president and CEO of EMD Millipore. "Our Provantage team is committed to developing an efficient, effective and robust manufacturing process to help reduce the time and cost required to advance this important preclinical drug candidate into the next phase for clinical production."