Pittsboro-based Biolex Therapeutics has made another advance in its development of unique production of human therapeutics through lemna, a common aquatic plant also known as duckweed.
Biolex and London, England-based MRC Technology have announced success in a collaboration to develop a so-called "humanized" antibody, a therapy processed from mouse cells, to target non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis in humans.
Under terms of the collaboration, Biolex will retain all development and commercialization rights to the humanized antibody, and MRCT will receive regulatory milestone payments and royalties upon its successful development. The companies did not disclose financial terms.
Biolex was founded on technology developed by Anne-Marie Stomp, Ph.D., with help from a $100,000 loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Stomp was recruited to North Carolina State University in 1986 on a Faculty Recruitment Grant from the Biotechnology Center, because of her expertise in forestry research. But she later took an interest in duckweed -- a plant that grows significantly faster than trees.
Stomp's research created the protein-production technology that was ultimately licensed to Biolex. Biolex has subsequently brought in more than $113 million in further venture and partnership funding.