Pivot Park was founded 10 years ago in 2012 and to mark the first decade of this, we asked several tenants who have been with us since the beginning. They talk about their successes, how to contribute to our ambition to improve global health care and what they expect from the upcoming 10 years. In the upcoming weeks, we will share their stories with you and we kick off with ImmunoPrecise.
ImmunoPrecise’s core strength lies in its ability to quickly and efficiently adapt innovative antibody development technologies into novel therapies,” explains Debby Kruijsen who has been with the Pivot Park located company since 2012, first as a Researcher, now as General Manager. Providing scientific services is like a good restaurant, delivery of high quality is crucial
to ensure returning customers.
Providing scientific services is like a good restaurant, delivery of high quality is crucial to esnure returning customers
“Antibodies are an important part of the human immune system,” explains Kruijsen. “They are produced by the immune system in response to invasive antigens (foreign molecules). When the antibodies to a particular infection are developed, memory cells are also produced. The latter remain in the body for years and are a robust defence against repeated infection. This memory mechanism protects the body without having to continuously going through the process to initiate the development of all kinds of antibodies. With the proper research and knowledge, you can utilise and stimulate those antibodies. For example, in the case of cancer, you can use them to activate so-called ‘killer cells’, which fight and ultimately kill the cancer cells.”
“We aren’t just developing technologies to produce specific antibodies outside the human body. We’re also translating new technologies into the generation of therapeutics. We can assess at an early stage whether therapeutics are effective or not. It’s about tackling that process right from the beginning all the way to the start of clinical trials.”
ImmunoPrecise is a Contract Research Organization (CRO) that keeps up with all the latest developments in its field. The company works together with various international pharmaceutical companies and universities.
ImmunoPrecise is always looking for possibilities to expand its portfolio to develop antibodies against novel targets in a broad range of diseases, such as immuno-oncology, infectious diseases and rare diseases. The company started as a spin-off from the Radboud University. Kruijsen said, “When Pivot Park started as a life science park, we moved our laboratories to Oss, at that time known as Modiquest Research. We grew very rapidly. In 2018 we were acquired by ImmunoPrecise and renamed into ImmunoPrecise Antibodies in 2019.”
“Reputations in science are like reviews of a good restaurant,” says Kruijsen. “If you exceed expectations and deliver quality you build a relationship with a partner to develop more novel therapeutic antibodies. Afterwards, maintaining the delivery of high quality is crucial. Soon we will move into part of the new development here at Pivot Park. We want to further expand our service package to independently develop therapeutic antibodies from target antigen to clinical validation. The knowledge about immunology in the Netherlands is first rate, and we facilitate and stimulate its growth through partnerships and our own research.” Kruijsen foresees a doubling of the ImmunoPrecise location at Pivot Park over the next ten years, forecasting twice as many staff housed in twice as much space.
ImmunoPrecise develops technologies to efficiently develop therapeutic antibodies to treat a broad range of diseases. This Contract Research Organization (CRO) has offices in Europe (Oss and Utrecht) and North America.
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