Adimab Launches Novel Antibody Discovery Platform and Announces Discovery Programs with Merck and Roche

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Tue Jun 16, 2009 7:00am EDT

LEBANON, N.H.--(Business Wire)--
Adimab, Inc., an emerging leader in the discovery of fully human antibodies,
today announced the launch of a unique human antibody discovery platform based
on the first fully synthetic human pre-immune IgG repertoire. Adimab`s
yeast-based platform offers unprecedented epitope coverage and allows for the
discovery of high affinity full-length human IgGs in extremely rapid timeframes.
In addition, Adimab announced two major research collaborations. 

Adimab and Merck, of Whitehouse Station, NJ, have entered into a collaboration
whereby Adimab will use its proprietary yeast-based antibody discovery platform
to identify fully human antibodies against targets selected by Merck. The
agreement grants Merck the right to commercialize antibodies generated from the
collaboration as therapeutic products. 

In a separate deal, Adimab and Roche, of Basel, Switzerland, have initiated a
research program whereby Adimab will use its proprietary yeast-based antibody
discovery platform to identify fully human antibodies against a target selected
by Roche. The agreement allows Roche the right to commercialize antibodies
generated from the collaboration as therapeutic and diagnostic products. 

Under the terms of the agreements, Adimab will receive various upfront payments,
preclinical milestones and licensing fees. In addition, Adimab is eligible to
receive clinical development milestones, commercial milestones and royalties on
therapeutic and diagnostic product sales. 

"Adimab has developed a disruptive technology in the antibody discovery space,"
said Tillman Gerngross, Adimab`s CEO and co-founder. "The speed, robustness and
diversity of our platform will provide drug developers with meaningful
advantages over current discovery technologies and we believe this approach has
the potential to become a new standard in the industry." 

"The execution of discovery agreements with two of the top ten pharmaceutical
companies based on Adimab`s platform underscores the demand for novel technical
approaches and more flexible business solutions in antibody discovery," stated
Guy van Meter, Senior Director of Business Development. "We are continuing to
get significant traction with potential collaborators and expect the partnering
momentum to continue in 2009." 

About Adimab

Adimab`s integrated antibody discovery and optimization platform provides
unprecedented speed from antigen to purified, full-length human IgGs. Adimab
offers fundamental advantages by delivering diverse panels of therapeutically
relevant antibodies that meet the most aggressive standards for affinity,
epitope coverage, species cross-reactivity and expressability. Adimab enables
its partners to rapidly expand their biologics pipelines through a broad
spectrum of technology access arrangements. For more information, visit
http://www.adimab.com. 





Adimab, Inc.
Guy van Meter, 603-727-7107 x175
Senior Director, Head of Business Development
or
MacDougall Biomedical Communications
Jacqui Miller, 781-235-3060


Copyright Business Wire 2009

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