Washington Editor

In a multiyear agreement reached with Abbott Laboratories, Medarex Inc. will use its UltiMAb Human Antibody Development System to generate antibodies to disease targets supplied by Abbott.

Chris Schade, chief financial officer of Princeton, N.J.-based Medarex, described the agreement to BioWorld Today as a "cash and carry" deal under which Medarex licenses its technology for research and development of fully human therapeutic antibodies for potential use in a number of areas. The Abbott deal marks the 22nd such agreement for Medarex.

Schade referred all specific questions related to finances to Abbott, of Abbott Park, Ill., which could not be reached for comment.

However, Abbott released a prepared statement saying Medarex could receive license fees and milestone payments, as well as royalties on sales of any products resulting from the agreement. Therapeutic areas of focus include immunology, oncology, neuroscience, metabolics and infectious disease.

"This agreement with Medarex represents a significant milestone in our continuing progress toward building the world's premier antibody platform within Abbott," Alejandro Aruffo, divisional vice president, pharmaceutical discovery, Abbott Laboratories and president, Abbott Bioresearch Center, said in a prepared statement.

Unlike the Abbott deal, Medarex has a score of other "50-50" partnerships in which Medarex shares its technology as well as research, development and commercialization costs with other companies to develop antibodies against given targets.

Medarex's stock (NASDAQ:MEDX) closed Tuesday at $3.57, down 19 cents.