Ark Therapeutics agrees University of Glasgow alliance

Ark Therapeutics is entering into a new alliance with the University of Glasgow that will involve the provision of manufacturing services.

Under the terms of the deal, Ark will assist the university's institute of cardiovascular and medical sciences in the development of a gene therapy programme for treating vein graft failure associated with coronary artery bypass surgery.

The firm won an open competitive tender process to manufacture cGMP grade adenoviral vector-expressing TIMP3 genes, which will be administered ex vivo to vein grafts at the time of surgery in phase I/II trials.

According to the university, Ark was selected based on its experience in providing clinical grade reagents for medical applications.

Martyn Williams, chief executive officer of Ark, said: "Our success in this competitive tender exercise further demonstrates that Ark is establishing itself as a leading provider of viral manufacturing services utilising our world-leading expertise in this arena."

This comes after the firm announced a separate manufacturing partnership agreement with PsiOxus Therapeutics in September 2011.