Abzena PLC 'Abzena inside' product study data to be presented (9229P)

TIDMABZA

RNS Number : 9229P

Abzena PLC

23 November 2016

Abzena plc

'Abzena inside' product clinical study data to be presented at upcoming conference

Cambridge, UK, 23 November 2016 - Abzena plc (AIM: ABZA, 'Abzena' or the 'Group'), a life sciences group providing services and technologies enabling the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, notes that Opsona Therapeutics Ltd ('Opsona') has announced that preliminary results from its ongoing Phase I/II study of 'Abzena inside' product OPN-305 in second line lower risk myelopdysplastic syndrome ('MDS') patients will be presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in San Diego on 3 December 2016.

OPN-305 is a Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR-2) antibody being developed by Opsona, having been created using Abzena's Composite Human Antibody technology.

The conclusion of the interim analysis of the study was that treatment with OPN-305 in patients with previously treated lower-risk MDS was well tolerated with no significant toxicities and a 50% overall response rate (ORR). The ASH abstract is now online and can be accessed here:

https://ash.confex.com/ash/2016/webprogram/Paper97931.html

Lead principal investigator Professor Guillermo Garcia-Manero, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, will present the preliminary data at ASH and has commented in Opsona's announcement that, "Inhibition of TLR2 with OPN-305 is safe and is currently demonstrating strong clinical activity in patients with lower risk MDS after hypomethylating agent therapy."

Enquiries:

 
 Abzena plc 
  John Burt, Chief Executive 
  Officer 
  Julian Smith, Chief Financial 
  Officer                          [phone] 
 
Numis (Nominated Adviser and 
 Broker)                          [phone] 
 Clare Terlouw / Paul Gillam       1000 
N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)         [phone] 
 Aubrey Powell / Liz Yong          3000 
 Instinctif Partners               [phone] 
  Melanie-Toyne Sewell / Rozi       [e-mail] 
  Morris 
 

About Abzena

Abzena (AIM: ABZA) provides proprietary technologies and complementary services to enable the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, a growing area that requires specialist knowledge and expertise. The Group has a global customer base which includes the majority of the top 20 biopharmaceutical companies as well as large and small biotech companies and academic groups.

The term "Abzena inside" is used by Abzena to describe products that have been created using its proprietary technologies and are being developed by its partners, and include Composite Human Antibodies(TM) and ThioBridge(TM) Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs). Abzena has the potential to earn future licence fees, milestone payments and/or royalties on "Abzena inside" products.

Abzena offers the following services and technologies across its principal sites in Cambridge (UK), San Diego, California (USA) and Bristol, Pennsylvania (USA).

-- Immunogenicity assessment, protein engineering to create humanized antibodies and deimmunised therapeutic proteins, and cell line development for manufacture.

-- Contract process development and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals, including monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, vaccines, and gene therapy and cell therapy products, for preclinical and clinical studies.

-- Proprietary site-specific conjugation technologies for antibody drug conjugate development and solutions for optimizing the therapeutic properties of biopharmaceuticals.

-- Contract chemistry and bioconjugation business focused on ADCs and is establishing the capability to manufacture ADCs to GMP standards.

For more information, please see www.abzena.com

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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November 23, 2016 03:09 ET (08:09 GMT)