Germany’s Bayer Animal Health and Vallidolid, Spain-based VLPbio have signed a global collaboration agreement to discover and develop a new generation of immunotherapeutic solutions that address the high demand for innovative treatment options in the field of veterinary medicine.

The companies said they planned to jointly discover and develop immunotherapeutics for animals based on VLPbio´s technology, which is designed to induce specific immune responses against target animal diseases.

As part of the deal, the collaboration partners intend to share knowledge about animal diseases and develop strategic approaches toward customer-focused treatment alternatives on the path to developing new products for prevention and treatment of diseases.

Douglas Hutchens, head of Drug Discovery, External Innovation and chief veterinary officer at Bayer Animal Health, said the partnership will intensify the German player’s focus on immunotherapeutics.

VLPbio CEO Pablo Gutiérrez said the deal underscores the innovative potential of his company’s technology, its experience and capacity as well as its solid strategic plan. The firm develops novel vaccines and other immunotherapies against high-impact diseases in the veterinary field based on chimeric virus-like particles (Ch-VLPs).

The Spanish immunology specialist with annual sales of more than € 1 billion

uses a proprietary technology that acts as an antigens-display platform for a specific target and activates an immune response.

In August, Bayer signed a definitive agreement to sell its animal health business to Eli Lilly spinoff Elanco Animal Health for $7.6 billion. The deal would create the market’s second largest player, with a share of 13%, behind Zoetis and ahead of unlisted Boehringer Ingelheim.

No further details of the proposed transaction – the biggest in a series of portfolio measures Bayer initiated in November 2018 to help fund its acquisition of Monsanto – have been revealed since the announcement. Bayer is due to report third-quarter 2019 results on Oct. 30, Elanco on Nov 6.