ABLYNX announces nanobody drug discovery collaboration with NOVO NORDISK
Date: 25.11.2015
GHENT, Belgium, 25 November 2015 - Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX; OTC: ABYLY] today announced that it has entered into a global exclusive collaboration and licensing agreement with Novo Nordisk to discover and develop novel multi-specific Nanobody ® drug candidates for use in an undisclosed disease area, with an option to expand the agreement to include a second Nanobody programme.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ablynx will receive an upfront license fee of €5 million and up to €4 million in research funding during the initial three year research term of the collaboration. If Novo Nordisk decides to exercise the option to the second programme, the Company will pay Ablynx an exercise fee of €4 million. In addition, Ablynx is eligible to receive potential development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments of up to €182 million per programme plus tiered royalties on the annual net sales on any products resulting from the collaboration. Novo Nordisk will be responsible for the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of any products resulting from this agreement.
Dr Edwin Moses, CEO of Ablynx commented: "Our proprietary Nanobody technology platform is ideally suited to develop multi-specific Nanobody candidates that address multiple targets in a single drug molecule, applicable across a wide range of diseases. Today's agreement with Novo Nordisk is another endorsement of the power, broad applicability and versatility of our technology, building further on the breadth and depth of our current partnerships with top tier pharmaceutical companies and the knowledge we have gained from developing our proprietary programmes. We are looking forward to working for the first time with Novo Nordisk."
About Ablynx
Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of Nanobodies ® , proprietary therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, which combine the advantages of conventional antibody drugs with some of the features of small-molecule drugs. Ablynx is dedicated to creating new medicines which will make a real difference to society. Today, the Company has more than 30 proprietary and partnered programmes in development in various therapeutic areas including inflammation, haematology, immuno-oncology, oncology and respiratory disease. The Company has collaborations with multiple pharmaceutical companies including AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eddingpharm, Genzyme, Merck & Co., Inc., Merck KGaA, Novartis, Novo Nordisk and Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The Company is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com .
For more information, please contact
Ablynx:
Dr Edwin Moses
CEO
t: +32 (0)9 262 00 07
m: +32 (0)473 39 50 68
e: edwin.moses@ablynx.com
Marieke Vermeersch
Associate Director Investor Relations
t: +32 (0)9 262 00 82
m: +32 (0)479 49 06 03
e: marieke.vermeersch@ablynx.com
Follow us on Twitter @AblynxABLX
Ablynx media relations Instinctif Partners:
Sue Charles, Daniel Gooch
London office
t: +44 (0)20 7866 7905
e: ablynx@instinctif.com
Belgium/Dutch and French language
Jim Rusagara
Brussels office
t: +32 (0)2 626 9500
e: ablynx@instinctif.com
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Ablynx via GlobeNewswire
