Medarex Inc. made its monoclonal antibody partnerships total 35 Thursday, joining with privately held Neuro Therapeutics Inc. to develop fully human antibody therapeutics against central nervous system disorders.

Princeton, N.J.-based Medarex plans to use its UltiMAb platform, which includes its HuMAb-Mouse antibody production technology, to produce fully human antibody therapeutics with Neuro Therapeutics¿ targets.

Neuro Therapeutics, of Vancouver, will provide all the targets it believes to be good candidates for antibody therapeutics over a course of several years. The partnership allows for extension by mutual agreement.

As is typical of a Medarex agreement, the companies will equally share in development costs and profits from therapeutics arising from the collaboration.

Neuro Therapeutics focuses on central nervous system disorders. Its lead technology, a process for the transient immunological suppression of myelin surrounding a CNS injury site, is awaiting patent approval. The technology has shown in preclinical testing to create an environment that facilitates neuronal repair.

Medarex currently collaborates for antibody production with Epigen Inc., of Millbrook, N.Y.; Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis; ZymoGenetics Inc., of Seattle; Oxford GlycoSciences plc., of Oxford, UK; Athersys Inc., of Cleveland; MedImmune Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md.; Corixa Corporation, of Seattle; Coulter Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Francisco; Raven Biotechnologies Inc., of San Carlos, Calif.; Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y. and Eos Biotechnology Inc., of South San Francisco. Medarex¿s stock (NASDAQ:MEDX) rose 9 cents Thursday, closing at $19.79.

¿ Matthew Willett