Abzena PLC Licence agreement (5797S)

TIDMABZA

RNS Number : 5797S

Abzena PLC

22 December 2016

Abzena plc

Licence agreement for Composite Human Antibody(TM) technology

Cambridge, UK, 22 December 2016 - Abzena plc (AIM: ABZA, 'Abzena' or the 'Group'), a life sciences group providing services and technologies to enable the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, has signed a licence agreement with Trieza Therapeutics, Inc ('Trieza'). Trieza is a start-up biotechnology company specialising in the discovery and development of immunomodulatory oncolytic viruses based in Cambridge, MA, USA.

Abzena has granted Trieza an exclusive worldwide, royalty bearing, sub-licensable licence to an undisclosed antibody sequence, which was created using the Group's Composite Human Antibody(TM) technology, for exploitation in conjunction with Trieza's viral vector technology to develop novel therapies in oncology.

Abzena could receive up to $35m in development and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on the sale of licensed products containing the Abzena sequence.

Dr John Burt, Abzena's CEO, commented:

"This new licence deal with Trieza provides the opportunity for Abzena to benefit from the commercialisation of one of the assets originally developed by the Group to exemplify its proprietary antibody humanization and deimmunisation technology. Our Abzena inside portfolio already has eleven products in the clinic that have benefitted from this technology."

Dr Dan Hicklin, Trieza Therapeutics' CEO, said: "We are pleased to enter this relationship with Abzena. Access to Abzena's technology will accelerate the development of Trieza's portfolio of immunotherapeutic oncolytic virus product candidates".

Enquiries:

 
   Abzena plc 
    John Burt, Chief Executive 
    Officer Julian Smith, Chief 
    Financial Officer                            [phone] 
                                                 [phone] 
     Numis (Nominated Adviser and Broker)         1000 
       Clare Terlouw / James Black / Paul 
       Gillam 
      N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)                   [phone] 
       Aubrey Powell / Liz Yong                   3000 
    Instinctif Partners 
     Melanie Toyne Sewell / Rozi                   [phone] 
     Morris                                        2020 
                                                   [e-mail] 
 

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

About Trieza Therapeutics, Inc

Trieza Therapeutics was formed in Q4 2016 as a spin-out from Potenza Therapeutics to more fully support certain oncolytic virus programs initiated at Potenza Therapeutics. The company is financed by the same investors as Potenza and operates independently of the Potenza-Astellas strategic partnership which has been ongoing since April 2015.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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December 22, 2016 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)