Ablexis Targets Market Expansion Opportunities for AlivaMab Mouse Following Acquisition by Deerfield Management and the Founding of AlivaMab Discovery Services

AlivaMab Discovery Services, an independent contract research organization, founded to provide clients a best in class source of therapeutic antibody candidates

BURLINGAME, CA and NEW YORK, NY. – June 21, 2018 – Ablexis LLC, and Deerfield Management announce today the acquisition of Ablexis by Deerfield Management. This acquisition creates a long-term partnership that will enable Ablexis to expand industry access to its AlivaMab Mouse technology, the company’s innovative, next-generation transgenic mouse platform for human antibody drug discovery. AlivaMab Mouse is the only transgenic animal with immunoglobulin transgene function, antibody composition, and variable gene endowment optimized to surmount the challenges of both antibody drug discovery and antibody drug development. Ablexis and Deerfield also announce the founding of AlivaMab Discovery Services, with John “Lippy” Lippincott joining as Vice-President of Research. AlivaMab Discovery Services will provide antibody discovery services leveraging the AlivaMab Mouse platform and the management team’s expertise and hands-on experience in leading and conducting antibody drug discovery and development.

The acquisition of Ablexis by Deerfield and the founding of AlivaMab Discovery Services support Ablexis in enabling biopharma companies of all sizes, from global pharma to virtual, plus academic and other entities, to access the AlivaMab Mouse technology for the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies that deliver potentially new treatment options for patients. Ablexis will now formally offer licensing models that include annual renewable non-exclusive licenses and individual target non-exclusive licenses. Ablexis will also continue to offer its successful founding model of perpetual non-exclusive licenses. "We are excited to partner with the Ablexis and AlivaMab Discovery Services teams, which are comprised of trusted leaders in building and using transgenic mice for discovery of therapeutic antibody candidates. We look forward to expanding access to the industry’s superior next generation antibody drug discovery platform,” stated Cameron Wheeler, Ph.D., Principal at Deerfield.

“Ablexis is uniquely differentiated in the antibody drug discovery industry. The AlivaMab Mouse platform is validated for the rapid and efficient discovery of antibody drug candidates that meet target product profiles for activity, specificity and developability. A majority of the world’s top-15 pharmaceutical companies have licensed and are using AlivaMab Mouse at over a dozen sites,” said Larry Green, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Ablexis and AlivaMab Discovery Services.

Dr. Green continued, “Seeking to build on the value of AlivaMab Mouse, we founded AlivaMab Discovery Services as a result of repeatedly hearing the needs of prospective partners wanting to outsource antibody drug discovery to a scientifically-driven organization led by a team with in-the-trenches experience and real understanding of therapeutic antibody discovery. We look forward to formally launching service provision in the coming months. Together with Deerfield, Ablexis is pleased to continue expansion of the use of AlivaMab Mouse through ongoing licensing to organizations with in-house antibody discovery capabilities combined with better serving organizations seeking to outsource antibody drug discovery through the launch of AlivaMab Discovery Services.”

About AlivaMab Mouse

Ablexis’s fully-validated AlivaMab Mouse platform is designed to enable the efficient discovery and development of the next generation of human therapeutic antibodies. Validated features of the platform include:

• Unique structure of antibodies produced by AlivaMab Mouse supports the efficient discoveryand development of high-quality therapeutic candidates
• The first and only synthetic, autonomously functioning immunoglobulin heavy, kappa and lambda transgenes with combinations of human and mouse coding and non-coding elements rationally-designed to produce adaptive immune responses that naturally generate panels of diverse, highly potent IgG antibodies
• Broad diversity of thoughtfully selected gene segments, which together with other aspects of the Ig transgene designs, produce variable region diversity and consequent epitope diversity in the antigen-specific IgG responses superior to other transgenic animals

About Ablexis, LLC

Ablexis, LLC created and commercializes the AlivaMab Mouse technology, a unique, patented next-generation transgenic mouse platform for human therapeutic antibody discovery. Ablexis has non-exclusively licensed the AlivaMab Mouse technology to multiple companies, including global pharmaceutical companies, public and private biotechnology companies and other entities. Ablexis continues making the AlivaMab Mouse available via non-exclusive licenses. More information can be found by visiting the Company’s website at www.ablexis.com. For inquiries about licensing AlivaMab Mouse, contact us at info@ablexis.com.

About Deerfield

Deerfield is an investment management firm committed to advancing healthcare through investment, information and philanthropy. For more information, please visit www.deerfield.com.

Media Contact:

Christine Quern
cq@christinequern.com
617-650-8497