Elasmogen Ltd, the Aberdeen-based biologics drug discovery company and Almac Discovery, a pharmaceutical company focused on identifying and developing innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, have entered into an agreement to co-develop Elasmogen’s soloMER technology for the treatment of solid tumors.

Elasmogen and Almac will jointly manage the research and development activities aimed at developing a drug candidate to an undisclosed target. Both parties will share costs, with Almac being responsible for commercialization.

Dr. Caroline Barelle, chief executive officer and scientific officer of Elasmogen, said, “We are very excited about combining the expertise of our two research teams to deliver an effective therapy for patients.”

Dr. Stephen Barr, president, Almac Discovery, said, “We are always looking for novel science to drive the next steps in drug development and we feel that the soloMER concept could be the next scientific step forward in drug conjugate approaches.”

soloMERs are humanized versions of antibody-like proteins that were first discovered in sharks. They are chemically robust molecules that tolerate drug conjugation well. It’s believed that soloMERs bind specifically to the cancer tissue and will penetrate inside the tumor before releasing their war-head of anti-cancer drugs, maximizing the damage to the tumor and minimizing the toxic effects to healthy tissues.