Program extends reach of proprietary SIMPLE Antibody™ platform and creates potential for future value creation
First collaborations with U.S.-based biotech company active in dyslipidemia and the de Duve Institute in cancer immunotherapy
Breda, The Netherlands / Ghent, Belgium, January 12, 2015 - arGEN-X N.V. (Euronext Brussels: ARGX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on creating and developing differentiated therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer and severe autoimmune diseases, today announced it has initiated its Innovative Access Program, providing its SIMPLE Antibody™ platform to academic centers of excellence and emerging biotech companies through collaboration. The goal of this program is to exploit the proven power of the SIMPLE Antibody™ platform in therapeutic areas complementary to arGEN-X’s strategic focus.
The first Innovative Access Program collaborations are with an unnamed U.S.-based biotechnology company active in the field of dyslipidemia research and with the de Duve Institute (Université Catholique de Louvain - Belgium) in the field of cancer immunotherapy.
“Our SIMPLE Antibody™ technology has far greater therapeutic potential than we can possibly exploit alone,” says Debbie Allen, VP Business Development at arGEN-X. “Whilst our strategic focus is on the discovery and development of novel antibody products for the treatment of cancer and severe autoimmune diseases, we are very excited to have launched our Innovative Access Program to extend our reach into multiple therapeutic areas. The Innovative Access Program is configured around flexible, collaborative terms, giving us a strategic position in the future commercial success of developed assets. We see the Innovative Access Program not only as a significant benefit to academia and emerging biotech companies, but also to arGEN-X as a potential driver of value creation.”
arGEN-X Innovative Access Program
The Innovative Access Program leverages the proven power of the SIMPLE Antibody™ platform in creating best-in-class antibodies across multiple therapeutic areas. Through collaboration with academic centers of excellence and emerging biotech companies, arGEN-X will provide access to its antibody discovery technologies and offer technical support and proprietary know-how where needed. Deal structures are designed to be flexible.
Under the terms of the agreement with the U.S.-based biotech company, arGEN-X will provide access to its suite of antibody discovery technologies and offer technical know-how and expertise. In return, arGEN-X will receive a share in the future commercial success of any asset utilizing the arGEN-X technology. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The collaboration with the de Duve Institute (Université Catholique de Louvain – Belgium) was initiated for the use of the SIMPLE Antibody™ platform and technical expertise of arGEN-X to validate a novel immune checkpoint target, GARP. arGEN-X will have the rights, following an upcoming predefined milestone, to exercise an option to exclusively in-license GARP-targeting antibodies for further development and commercialization as part of its proprietary product pipeline.
For further information, please contact: ohfvarff.qrirybczrag@neTRA-K.pbz
About arGEN-X
arGEN-X is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on creating and developing differentiated therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer and severe autoimmune diseases. arGEN-X has generated a pipeline of differentiated clinical and preclinical antibody candidates using its SIMPLE Antibody™ discovery platform. SIMPLE Antibody™ has a particular strength in addressing novel, complex disease targets that are difficult to access using established antibody technology platforms. Proprietary Fc engineering technologies (NHance® and ABDEG™) and POTELLIGENT® technology (licensed from BioWa, Inc.) further enhance the therapeutic properties of SIMPLE Antibody™ leads in terms of tissue penetration/residence time in the body, ability to clear disease targets or pathogenic antibodies and cell-killing potency through Antibody-Dependent Cell-mediated Cytotoxicity (ADCC), respectively. arGEN-X has leveraged its suite of antibody technologies in forging strategic collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to provide new approaches to diseases with unmet medical needs.
arGEN-X is listed on the Euronext Brussels exchange under the symbol ARGX.
SIMPLE Antibody™, NHance® and ABDEG™ are trademarks of arGEN-X NV
POTELLIGENT® is a trademark of BioWa Inc.
Forward-looking Statements
The contents of this announcement include statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will", or "should", and include statements arGEN-X makes concerning the intended results of its strategy. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. arGEN-X’ actual results may differ materially from those predicted by the forward-looking statements. arGEN-X undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.