Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical
companies, and Ablynx, the pioneer in the discovery and development of
Nanobodies(R) have jointly announced an exclusive worldwide
collaboration and licence agreement worth almost $265 million to
discover and develop new therapies for Alzheimer's disease using
Ablynx' Nanobodies(R), a novel class of therapeutic proteins.
In addition Boehringer Ingelheim will commence a joint research
programme including Ablynx scientists. Boehringer Ingelheim will be
solely responsible for the development, manufacture and
commercialisation of any products resulting from the collaboration.
The deal includes an upfront fee, development and commercial
milestones. Ablynx will also receive undisclosed royalties based on
net sales.
Ablynx' Nanobodies(R) could be particularly important in
developing new Alzheimer's disease treatments, as researchers believe
they could solve the problems faced by other drugs or conventional
treatments. Due to their special characteristics, Nanobodies(R) may
cross the blood-brain barrier more readily than conventional
antibodies.
Dr Edwin Moses, Chief Executive Officer of Ablynx, said:
"Boehringer Ingelheim have developed considerable expertise in the
field of neurological diseases including Alzheimer's disease and
combined with their biologic biopharmaceutical capabilities we believe
they are the ideal partner to ensure that we maximise the therapeutic
potential of Nanobodies(R). There is a growing serious unmet medical
need to treat Alzheimer's disease which urgently requires new and
innovative approaches. We are delighted that Boehringer Ingelheim have
determined that Nanobodies(R) represent such an approach."
Dr Andreas Barner, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Managing
Directors and Head of Corporate Board Division Pharma Research,
Development and Medicine added: "We look forward to working with
Ablynx to discover new Nanobodies(R). We are very excited about the
opportunity to develop new biological entities for treating
Alzheimer's disease based on this powerful and unique technology."
Ablynx' strategy is to build a diverse and broad portfolio of
therapeutic Nanobodies(R) based on strategic partnerships as well as
on its own internal discovery pipeline. It has ongoing research
collaborations and significant, multi-target partnerships with several
other major pharmaceutical companies, including Wyeth Pharmaceuticals,
Novartis, Centocor (J&J), Kirin Brewery and Procter and Gamble
Pharmaceuticals.
Nanobody(R)-based therapeutics represent a major commercial
opportunity as they combine the beneficial features of conventional
antibodies, with desirable properties of small-molecule drugs. Because
they are derived from naturally-occurring heavy-chain antibodies,
Nanobodies(R) have unparalleled stability and can be administered in a
variety of ways (injected, orally, in sprays or creams), thus
overcoming the delivery issues associated with full-sized antibodies,
that can only be delivered by injection. In addition, because of their
unique structure they can also address therapeutic opportunities that
are beyond the reach of conventional antibodies or their fragments,
for example targeting epitopes such as receptor clefts, enzyme active
sites and viral canyon sites. Nanobodies(R) manufactured in
micro-organisms also present a significant cost advantage in
comparison to production methods for conventional antibodies.
About Ablynx - www.ablynx.com
Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and
development of Nanobodies(R), a novel class of therapeutic proteins
based on single-domain antibody fragments, for a range of serious and
life-threatening human diseases. Ablynx is developing a portfolio of
Nanobody(R)-based therapeutic programs in a number of major disease
areas, including inflammation, thrombosis, oncology and Alzheimer's
disease. Already Ablynx has generated Nanobodies(R) against more than
hundred different disease targets. The company and its collaborators
have obtained positive in vivo efficacy data from animal studies in
five major therapeutic programs in four disease areas. Importantly,
Ablynx has shown the absence of any detectable immunogenicity for its
Nanobody(R) development candidates in advanced primate studies. Today,
three of these programs are in advanced preclinical development, and
Ablynx expects to have progressed its first program into clinical
trials by first part of 2007.
Ablynx has ongoing research collaborations and significant,
multi-target partnerships with several major pharmaceutical companies,
including Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Centocor (J&J), Kirin
Brewery and P&G Pharma. Ablynx is building a diverse and broad
portfolio of therapeutic Nanobodies(R) through these collaborations as
well as through its own internal discovery programs.
Ablynx holds the dominant patent position in the field of
Nanobodies(R). It has exclusive and worldwide rights to more than
forty families of granted patents and pending patent applications,
including the patents covering the basic structure, composition,
preparation and uses of Nanobodies(R) (the 'Hamers patents') which
have been granted in major territories including the US, Europe and
Japan. All products, including therapeutics, that contain
Nanobodies(R) are covered by these patents.
Headquartered in Ghent, Belgium, Ablynx has raised over EUR 70
million (over US$87.5 million) from a strong investor consortium
including Abingworth Management (UK), Alta Partners (USA), Biotech
Fund Flanders (Belgium), Gilde Investment Management (The
Netherlands), GIMV (Belgium), KBC (Belgium), Sofinnova Partners
(France), and SR One (USA). Basic Nanobody(R) patents were contributed
by its founding institutions VIB and VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel).
About Boehringer Ingelheim - www.boehringer-ingelheim.com
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world's 20 leading
pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it
operates globally with 143 affiliates in 47 countries and almost
37,500 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned
company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing
and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and
veterinary medicine.
In 2005, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 9.5 billion euro
while spending almost one fifth of net sales in its largest business
segment Prescription Medicines on research and development.
Please find further information on www.boehringer-ingelheim.com
