The News

Ablynx receives further milestone payments of €3 million as part of its strategic alliance with BoehringerIngelheim

01/10/2010

GHENT, Belgium, 1 October 2010 - Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX] today announced that it will receive further milestone payments totalling €3 million from Boehringer Ingelheim, triggered as part of its strategic alliance for the development and commercialisation of Nanobodies®. Ablynx has now earned a total of €12 million in milestone payments as part of this agreement.
Ablynx and Boehringer Ingelheim entered into an agreement in September 2007 to collaborate on the discovery, development and commercialisation of up to 10 different Nanobody therapeutics across a range of areas including for example immunology, oncology and respiratory diseases. The agreement would allow potential milestone payments of up to €125 million for each Nanobody developed as well as undisclosed royalties to Ablynx. Boehringer Ingelheim is exclusively responsible for the development, manufacture 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 pleased that yet another Nanobody programme has reached this contractual milestone. The Nanobody platform continues to deliver across therapeutic areas and also for complex targets.”

About Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX]
Founded in 2001 in Ghent, Belgium, Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of Nanobodies, a novel class of therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, for a range of serious and life-threatening human diseases. The Company currently has over 250 employees. Ablynx completed a successful IPO on Euronext Brussels [ABLX] on 7 November 2007 and raised €50 million through an SPO in March 2010.
Ablynx is developing a portfolio of Nanobody-based therapeutics in a number of major disease areas, including inflammation, thrombosis, oncology and Alzheimer’s disease. Ablynx now has over 25 programmes in its therapeutic pipeline including four Nanobodies in clinical development. So far, Nanobodies have been successfully generated against more than 220 different protein targets including several complex targets such as chemokines, GPCRs, ion channels and viruses, which are typically very difficult to address with conventional monoclonal antibodies. Efficacy data have been obtained in 35 in vivo models for Nanobodies against a range of different targets.
Ablynx has an extensive patent position in the field of Nanobodies for healthcare applications. It has exclusive and worldwide rights to more than 130 families of granted patents and pending patent applications, including the Hamers patents covering the basic structure, composition, preparation and uses of Nanobodies.
Ablynx has ongoing research collaborations and significant partnerships with several major pharmaceutical companies, including Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck Serono and Pfizer. Ablynx is building a diverse and
broad portfolio of therapeutic Nanobodies through these collaborations as well as through its own internal discovery programmes.
The Company’s lead programme ALX-0081, an intravenously administered novel anti-thrombotic, entered a Phase II study in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in September 2009. Ablynx demonstrated proof-of-concept by biomarker for ALX-0081 in December 2009. ALX-0681, a subcutaneous administration of the anti-von Willebrand factor (vWF) Nanobody and ALX-0081 entered into a Phase II study in TTP patients in September 2010.
In September 2009, Ablynx’s partner Pfizer entered a Phase II study in RA patients, with an anti-TNF-alpha Nanobody, ATN-103. ATN-103 is administered via subcutaneous injection every 4 and 8 weeks.
ALX-0061, an anti-IL6R Nanobody is in preclinical development for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Ablynx is on track to initiate a Phase I/II single and multiple dose study in patients with active RA during the first quarter of 2011.
In December 2009, Ablynx initiated a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled Phase I study with ALX-0141, a Nanobody targeting Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor kappa B Ligand (RANKL), in healthy post-menopausal women for which initial positive Phase I data were reported in September 2010. In February 2010, Ablynx announced that it had reached its criteria for initiating the preclinical development of ALX-0651, a Nanobody against CXCR4, and will progress this programme towards the clinic. CXCR4 plays an important role in cell mobility, tumor growth and metastasis. In March 2010, Ablynx advanced an anti-RSV Nanobody, ALX-0171, into preclinical development. ALX-0171 will be developed for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections, delivered through inhalation and has the potential to be effective both in the prevention of infection as well as in treatment once infection has occurred.

Nanobody® is a registered trademark of Ablynx NV.
 

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

Eva-Lotta Allan
Chief Business Officer
t: +32 (0)9 262 00 75
m: +32 (0)475 78 36 21 / +44 (0)7990 570 900
e: eva-lotta.allan@ablynx.com

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company’s or, as appropriate, the Company’s directors’ current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its or their parent or subsidiary undertakings or any such person’s officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.