Focus will be on antibodies for infectious diseases, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

Symphogen and Origen Therapeutics are working together to develop transgenic chickens capable of producing human antibodies against infectious diseases, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.


Symphogen and Origen will together fund the development of transgenic chickens using Origen’s avian transgenic technology. Both firms will hold rights to develop products from those birds. Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies will be created using Symphogen’s discovery and expression platforms.


Origen will receive up-front license payments and further payments upon reaching defined research and development goals. In addition, Symphogen and Origen will pay each other royalties on products arising from the technology. Furthermore, Symphogen will have the right to purchase exclusive access to the collaboration technology.


“Symphogen’s Symplex™ technology is an extremely powerful platform for direct isolation of potent, fully human antibody drug lead candidates against exogenous targets, for example, such as those for infectious diseases,” notes Kirsten Drejer, Ph.D., CEO of Symphogen. “The transgenic chickens to be developed by Origen will complement our existing discovery platform and provide us with the strategic freedom to develop recombinant fully human antibodies against any disease of interest including cancer and autoimmune diseases for our own product pipeline or together with our partners.”


Robert Kay, Ph.D., president and CEO of Origen, adds, “We both believe the future lies in the use of multiple antibodies against a disease target, rather than the single monoclonal antibody approach, to achieve a more potent therapeutic effect with fewer side effects. Origen’s avian transgenic technology provides the means to reach that goal.”

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