Abzena highlights Roche's acquisition of Adheron Therapeutics

Life sciences company Abzena announced that Roche has acquired Adheron Therapeutics, which is a privately-held biotechnology company developing the SPD051 product that disrupts cell adhesion using Abzena's Composite Human Antibody technology.

Adheron has completed a Phase I study of SPD051 and the product was shown to be safe and well tolerated. Abzena said further development of the product will be pursued by Roche.

SDP051 is one of Abzena's portfolio of 10 clinical-stage Composite Human Antibodies being developed by the group's partners.

The company said it has a significant portfolio of licence and licence option agreements covering these products with many more being evaluated in research programmes and in preclinical development

Abzena’s chief executive officer John Burt said: “The acquisition of Adheron by a major pharma company is great endorsement and validation of our Composite Human Antibody approach for creation of fully humanised therapeutic antibodies.

"This is also the third time we have seen the acquisition of a biotech company, pursuing products created through the application of our technology to improve their clinical profile."

At 1245 BST, Abzena shares were up 0.7% at 71.50p.