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Back Celonic acquires anti-cancer protein from APIT Laboratories

Celonic AG, Basel, and APIT Laboratories GmbH, Potsdam, announce a commercial license agreement for of a new biopharmaceutical compound for the treatment of cancer.

The anti-tumor protein, originally isolated from the defensive ink of a sea slug, attacks tumor cells in a threefold mechanism of action through the enzymatic production of reactive oxygen species and the deprivation of amino acids specifically required by tumor cells. In vitro and in vivo experiments show that APIT efficiently destroys various kinds of cancers and could potentially also be used for the treatment of cancer becoming resistant to chemotherapy. This agreement grants Celonic the exclusive and worldwide rights for the development and marketing of the new pharmaceutical drug.

“We are very pleased about this agreement with APIT”, Dr. Andreas Herrmann, CEO of Celonic stated. “We believe that this compound reveals superior efficacy and additionally offers new therapeutic options for those patients without adequate treatment.” Dr. Michael Lindemann, CEO of APIT said: „Celonic is the ideal partner, since it has the right expertise and technology to move quickly forward into the clinical development. “

Celonic AG is a global acting biotechnology company, focused on the development and production of biopharmaceutical proteins either for customer service or for its own biopharmaceutical compounds for the treatment of immune and cancer diseases.

APIT is a spin-off company of the Max-Planck-Institute for Infectious Biology in Berlin. The company is focussed on the development of biological compounds for the treatment of cancer.