GHENT, Belgium, 20 March 2012 - Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX] today announced a two-year extension of the initial five-year research funding by Boehringer Ingelheim of their global strategic alliance to discover, develop and commercialise up to 10 different Nanobody® therapeutics. The extension which will run until September 2014, will allow all the existing ten Nanobody programmes to advance to a stage where Boehringer Ingelheim can potentially progress each programme into development. Ablynx will receive a total of €6.6 million in additional research funding from Boehringer Ingelheim, some of which will be in advance. This payment is in return for work carried out by Ablynx's specialist Nanobody scientists. Ablynx has already received over €58 million from payments under the Strategic Alliance since it was signed in 2007.
In September 2007, Ablynx and Boehringer Ingelheim entered into a Strategic Alliance on the discovery, development and commercialisation of Nanobody therapeutics across a range of diseases, including oncology, immunology, and respiratory diseases. The agreement allows for potential milestone payments of up to €125 million plus royalties to Ablynx for each Nanobody which reaches market. Boehringer Ingelheim is exclusively responsible for the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of any products resulting from the collaboration. Ablynx retains certain co-promotion rights in Europe.
Dr Edwin Moses, CEO and Chairman of Ablynx, said:
"We are delighted to extend the current Strategic Alliance. As a result of this very successful collaboration, there are now two Nanobody programmes already in pre-clinical development and seven Nanobodies at various stages in discovery across multiple disease areas. In addition, as part of a separate collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, there is a Nanobody relevant in Alzheimer's disease also at the pre-clinical development stage. We are very pleased to have eleven Nanobody programmes potentially able to make an important contribution to Boehringer Ingelheim's R&D pipeline."
About Ablynx
Ablynx (http://www.ablynx.com/en/) is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of Nanobodies® (http://www.ablynx.com/en/research-development/nanobody-technology/understanding-nanobodies/), a novel class of therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, for a range of serious and life-threatening human diseases, including inflammation, haematology, oncology and pulmonary disease. Today, the Company has over 25 programmes in the pipeline (http://www.ablynx.com/en/research-development/pipeline/) and seven Nanobodies at clinical development stage. Ablynx has ongoing research collaborations and significant partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies, including Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck Serono and Novartis. The Company is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com (http://www.ablynx.com/en/).
For more information, please contact
Ablynx:
Dr Edwin Moses
Chairman and CEO
t: +32 (0)9 262 00 07
m: +44 (0)7771 954 193 /
+32 (0)473 39 50 68
e: edwin.moses@ablynx.com (mailto:edwin.moses@ablynx.com)
Marieke Vermeersch
Investor Relations Manager
t: +32 (0)9 262 00 82
m: +32 (0)479 49 06 03
e: marieke.vermeersch@ablynx.com (mailto:marieke.vermeersch@ablynx.com%20)
M:Communications:
Mary-Jane Elliott, Amber Bielecka, Claire Dickinson
t: +44 207 920 2330
e: ablynx@mcomgroup.com (mailto:ablynx@mcomgroup.com)
The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.
Source: Ablynx via Thomson Reuters ONE
