Pure MHC to Partner with AbbVie on Oncology Research

Collaboration will focus on T-cell Receptor therapeutic targets

Emergent Technologies, Inc. (ETI) announced today that its target discovery portfolio company, Pure MHC, and global biopharmaceutical company, AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), will embark on a research and license agreement to discover and validate peptide targets for use with T-cell receptor therapeutics in several types of cancers.

T-cells play a key role in regulating immune responses to tumors. Receptors on the surface of T-cells recognize tumor antigens in the form of small peptides and provide a selective pathway for targeted cancer therapies. Pure MHC has developed technology to identify novel, tumor-associated peptides based on innovation licensed from the University of Oklahoma.

The collaboration between AbbVie and Pure MHC will seek to identify a library of peptide targets for further research across multiple tumor types and advance AbbVie’s ongoing development of next-generation immuno-oncology therapies.

“Our partnership with Pure MHC will advance our research within immuno-oncology, an important frontier in the ongoing fight against cancer,” said Steve Davidsen, Ph.D., vice president, oncology discovery, AbbVie.

“We are excited to partner with AbbVie in the immuno-oncology space leveraging Pure MHC’s over 15 years of peptide target discovery with AbbVie’s deep clinical expertise to utilize these targets in new and improved therapies for the treatment of cancer,” said Thomas Harlan, Chief Executive Officer at ETI and Pure MHC.

“We’re tremendously proud of the effort by the Pure MHC team and Emergent Technologies,” said James Bratton, Assistant Vice President, Economic Development and Executive Director, Office of Technology Development at the University of Oklahoma. "Without their vision, expertise and dedication, none of this would have been possible. This collaboration with AbbVie demonstrates how commercialization of university research can have a lasting, positive impact on the world.”

About Emergent Technologies

Emergent Technologies, Inc. is an innovation solutions and technology commercialization leader headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information visit www.etibio.com.

About Pure MHC

Pure MHC, LLC is a platform technology company funded and managed by Emergent Technologies, Inc. with expertise in disease-specific target identification and validation as well as immunotherapeutic drug development for cancer, infectious and autoimmune diseases, and allergy. The Pure MHC target discovery technology was developed by Chief Scientist, William Hildebrand, PhD. of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. For more information, visit www.puremhc.com.

About AbbVie

AbbVie is a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company formed in 2013 following separation from Abbott Laboratories. The company's mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to develop and market advanced therapies that address some of the world's most complex and serious diseases. Together with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pharmacyclics, AbbVie employs more than 28,000 people worldwide and markets medicines in more than 170 countries. For further information on the company and its people, portfolio and commitments, visit www.abbvie.com.

About the University of Oklahoma

Since 1890, the University of Oklahoma (OU) has served the educational, cultural, economic and health-care needs of the state, region and nation. OU’s mission is to provide the best possible educational experience for students through excellence in teaching, research and creative activity, and service to the state and society. OU’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) helps OU researchers transform ideas into tangible impact for the betterment of society. OTD provides the highest level of fiduciary expertise for the perfection, conveyance and commercialization of OU intellectual property, and strives to be recognized as a driving force for OU's economic impact through education, expertise and efficiency. For more information, visit otd.ou.edu.

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Emergent Technologies, Inc.Cameron Mackie, [e-mail]