Britain’s decision to quit the European Union in 2016 upended many formal commercial links. But it didn’t stop scientists on both sides of the English Channel from meeting on a regular basis to map out collaborations. On 9 February, a group of scientists involved in translational research met in Ghent, Belgium to discuss opportunities for partnerships in immunology and immunotherapy. The meeting was organised by the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIP), Biovia, a health cluster in Flanders, and the UK membership group One Nucleus. The discussion focused on new ideas and tools for drug discovery.
VIB was founded in 1995 as a non-profit organisation to work in partnerships with several universities in Belgium on fundamental research projects. Years ago, its laboratories produced the world’s first transgenic plant as well recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), the gold standard for treating stroke. Today the institute is directing its resources towards trying to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms behind inflammation. Bart Lambrecht, director of a center for inflammation at Ghent University Hospital, told the meeting that scientists’ understanding of the immune system had progressed, but this has not been matched by enough new therapies.
Obesity has been identified as an inflammatory disease while ageing has links to inflammation, particularly in the western world. The VIB is using new tools such spacial transcriptomics to understand where immune cells sit within tissue and how to use this information to predict disease outcomes.
Immunology is the core focus of argenx SE, a Netherlands-based company with long-standing scientific ties with the VIB. Tim Van Acker, director of business development, told the meeting that the company aims to treat 50,000 patients globally with its autoimmune medicines by 2030 of which the antibody Vyvgart for generalised myasthenia gravis (gMG) is the leading drug. In gMG antibodies prevent nerves from communicating with muscle.
argenx is a profitable biotech with 2025 revenue of $4.15 billion. Mr Van Acker said this financial success has opened up new partnership opportunities based on novel targets and close relationships with scientists. In January it entered a collaboration with Tensegrity Pharma of Japan to study cancer-related cachexia.
Giving a UK perspective, Preeti Bakrania, head of partnerships at the charity, LifeArc, explained how the company is using its financial resources, built up from royalty income, to provide antibody services to large pharma, including for immunotherapies. The focus is on filling the gap in drug development between early to late-stage translation. The charity’s specialty is humanising antibodies, or taking antibodies derived from mammals and making them suitable for humans. Twenty years ago LifeArc, in collaboration with Organon Biosciences of the Netherlands, humanised an antibody that later became the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda), developed and marketed by US Merck. More recently, the charity has broadened its remit to include antibody discovery and created a new platform that can bypass the need for humanisation.
-Victoria English
Copyright 2026 Evernow Publishing Ltd