Zephyr Foundation

Spaltudaq Corp. Announces Identification of Broadly and Potently Neutralizing Human HIV Antibodies and Change of Company Name to Theraclone Sciences, Inc.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Theraclone Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company formerly known as Spaltudaq, focused on the discovery and development of human antibodies, announced results from its HIV antibody discovery program at the HIV Immunobiology Meeting of the Keystone Symposia Global Health Series earlier this week.

Theraclone has been working to identify and generate neutralizing monoclonal antibodies from rare HIV-infected patients who appear to have slow progression of their disease. Such patients are relatively rare, and, despite being infected, are clinically asymptomatic. Sera from such patient samples often have the ability to neutralize a broad range of HIV viruses, suggesting the possibility of antibodies capable of controlling HIV infection and progression.

On Monday, Theraclone announced the identification of two new antibodies that have potent neutralizing activity over a broad range of HIV viruses. After more than 15 years of research and prior to these results, only a handful of human-derived antibodies had been reported that broadly neutralize HIV in vitro. Such antibodies may be useful therapeutically and may also provide the basis to “reverse engineer” a vaccine that is capable of inducing such protective antibodies in patients.

“We are very excited about these findings,” said David Fanning, President and CEO of Theraclone. “We undertook this work to demonstrate proof-of-concept that such antibodies exist in these patients and that they are obtainable using our approach. We look forward to further testing and characterization of these antibodies as potential therapeutic candidates and to the potential identification of additional broadly and potently neutralizing antibodies in 2009 and 2010.”

Theraclone Sciences, Inc., announced that its name will be changed from Spaltudaq, effective March 30th.

“We wanted to select a name that highlights our ability to clone and express clinically relevant, naturally fully human antibodies for clinical and commercial benefit,” said David Fanning.

Theraclone’s core technology is called I-STAR™, which stands for In-Situ Therapeutic Antibody Rescue. The technology enables the discovery and synthesis of human therapeutic monoclonal antibodies directly from human memory B cells. As a class, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies represent the fastest-growing drug category. The company is focused on infectious disease and inflammation and has programs in influenza, HIV, and human cytomegalovirus.

Theraclone Sciences, Inc., is a biopharmaceutical company committed to the development and commercialization of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of infectious disease and inflammation. Theraclone is a privately held organization with venture investment from ARCH Venture Partners, Canaan Partners and Healthcare Ventures, and is headquartered in Seattle. For additional information, please visit www.theraclone-sciences.com.