Paragon Therapeutics Announces Antibody Discovery Joint Venture with FairJourney Biologics

BOSTON and PORTO, Portugal, July 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Paragon Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to discovering and developing best-in-class antibodies for a range of human diseases, today announced a joint venture with FairJourney Biologics S.A. (FJB) and IONTAS Limited (IONTAS), leaders in the discovery and optimization of VHH fully human antibodies. Founded in 2021 by Fairmount Funds Management LLC ("Fairmount"), the joint venture will harness IONTAS' proprietary mammalian display technology and explore diverse panels of novel antibody candidates with the potential to advance wholly owned candidates into the Paragon Therapeutics discovery pipeline.

"Through Fairmount, we are excited to establish and advance the joint venture with FairJourney Biologics, a true innovator in antibody discovery," said K. Evan Thompson, PhD., Chief Operating Officer, Paragon Therapeutics. "We look forward to partnering our skills with the capabilities of FJB/IONTAS to identify potential next-generation candidates, which serves as an important step forward in fueling our pipeline of best-in-class antibody therapies."

Under the terms of the agreement, FJB and IONTAS will provide Paragon Therapeutics with access to IONTAS' novel mammalian display technology to generate a range of therapeutic antibody leads while selecting for key attributes with the potential to address clinically proven targets in novel ways. The collaboration will also provide a dedicated full-time FJB/IONTAS team assigned to the project.

"We are excited to collaborate with Paragon Therapeutics in the joint venture to discover novel, best-in-class antibody therapies," said Dr. António Parada, Chief Executive Officer, FairJourney Biologics and IONTAS. "Our cutting-edge mammalian display technology enables the identification of untapped applications to generate a diverse panel of antibodies with the goal of reaching patients in need."

For more information about FJB and IONTAS's next generation mammalian display technology, please visit: https://fjb.pt/technology/mammalian-display/  

About Paragon Therapeutics

Paragon Therapeutics, Inc. is an emerging biotechnology company dedicated to discovering and developing best-in-class antibodies for a range of human diseases with unmet needs. Founded by Fairmount, Paragon therapeutics is based in Boston, Mass. For more information, please visit www.paragontherapeutics.com.

About FairJourney Biologics

FairJourney Biologics (FJB) is a leading biologics CRO, providing integrated services across antibody discovery, engineering, and production to global biopharma. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Porto, FJB has grown to over 120 highly technically skilled employees today. The Company operates a flexible, customer-oriented 'one-stop shop' approach to biologics development focused on quality, reliability and partnership. FJB has successfully completed more than 500 projects for over 100 customers across big pharma and leading biotech companies to date. The Company's significant expertise in phage display technology, combined with a diverse approach to generating both immune and naïve antibody libraries have contributed to a market leading 99%+ project success rate. For more information visit www.fjb.pt

IONTAS was recently integrated in the FairJourney Group and offers services for antibody discovery using phage display technology and mammalian display. The innovative mammalian display platform enables full-length antibodies to be expressed in the context of a mammalian cell, thereby allowing selection based on function, stability, expression and developability. For more information visit www.iontas.co.uk. 

SOURCE Paragon Therapeutics

Related Links

https://www.paragontherapeutics.com/