JDRF To Collaborate with MediGene to Develop an Antigen-Specific Immunotherapeutic for Type I Diabetes

05-Apr-2007

MediGene AG through its wholly owned UK subsidiary in Oxford (formerly Avidex) announced a funded collaborative research program with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Through its Industry Discovery and Development Partnership Program, JDRF is providing financial support for the advancement of monoclonal T cell receptor (mTCR) therapeutics that aim to prevent the destruction of insulin producing beta cells which occurs with the onset of type I diabetes. JDRF is collaborating with MediGene over two years to accelerate ongoing proof-of-concept studies into the clinic.

Type I diabetes is a disease caused by T cells that inappropriately destroy the body's own insulin-producing cells. MediGene's mTCR therapeutics engineer T cell receptors into antibody-like proteins that can be used to actively target known therapeutic compounds to target tissues. For its type I diabetes program, MediGene is developing specific mTCRs which will be used to both competitively block autoreactive T cell engagement to beta cells and to selectively target known immunosuppressive agents to the beta cell's local environment.

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