National Editor

Chromos Molecular Systems Inc. entered its first licensing deal focused on its artificial chromosome expression system, known as ACE, signing up with Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc, which will use the system to manufacture antibodies and biologics.

CAT, of Cambridge, UK, will use the platform - which it said fits well with its phage display technology - to generate cell lines expressing monoclonal antibodies. The company retains the right to manufacture and sell therapeutic products that emerge from the Chromos deal.

Helen Zeitler, director of investor relations and communications for Burnaby, British Columbia-based Chromos, said deals such as the agreement with CAT will be the firm's bread and butter "over the next two years, absolutely. There's a need and we can fill it."

Chromos gets undisclosed cash up front, along with annual maintenance fees plus potential milestone and royalty payments. Zeitler said the deal prohibited her from disclosing more financial details.

The monoclonal antibody market is growing by about 30 percent per year and is expected to surpass $20 billion by 2010, but antibody production platforms now available might be doomed to fall behind.

"Capacity is one of the issues, but also speed and quality," Zeitler said. "With our technology, you can generate those protein-producing cell lines in two to four months."

With conventional technology, the time frame is nine to 12 months, she said.

"We bypass gene amplification," Zeitler said. "You don't have to do that with our technology." Other methods "screen thousands of colonies and identify the best 50 lines," she added. "We screen 100 and identify the best five to 10 lines."

Chromos, which went public three years ago when it raised C$30 million (then US$20.3 million) by issuing 3.75 million shares, says ACE beats the other methods, allowing for long-term, stable production of complex proteins that are difficult or impossible to make.

Founded in 1996, Chromos has 30 employees.

"We're the only people globally who produce and isolate mammalian artificial chromosomes," Zeitler said, noting the use of the company's platform in gene therapy represents Chromos' most likely route to therapeutics of its own, eventually.

"As far as gene delivery goes, viral vectors have gotten a lot of publicity, but that's probably going to change," Zeitler told BioWorld Today.

Chromos has a collaboration with Morphogen Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, begun in April 2002. Chromos employs MorphoGen's adult-derived stem cells to expand application of Chromos' gene delivery and expression technology for cell-mediated gene therapies. The purpose is to prove that the platform can "not only get an artificial chromosome into a stem cell but then have it go on and differentiate and continue to express the protein of choice," Zeitler said. Terms were not disclosed.

CAT, for its part, last made major news in January when it disclosed an all-share offer to buy Oxford GlycoSciences plc, of Oxford, U.K. Worth £109.6 million (US$177 million) when it was made, the offer was rejected by OGS after CAT's shares fell in value. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 24, 2003.)

The rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira (adalimumab), CAT's leading antibody, recently was launched by Abbott Laboratories Inc., of Abbott Park, Ill., and is expected to sell more than $1 billion annually.

Chromos' stock (TSE:CHR) rose C3 cents Thursday to close at C60 cents (US43.5 cents).