Company Announcement
- Co-development agreement with BioNovion
- Bispecific antibodies to immuno-oncology targets to be created with DuoBody Technology
Copenhagen, Denmark; February 19, 2015 – Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) announced today it has entered a co-development and commercialization agreement with BioNovion to evaluate a number of DuoBody product candidates targeting immune checkpoints. Genmab and BioNovion will contribute panels of antibodies for the creation of bispecific antibody products using Genmab’s DuoBody platform technology. If the companies jointly select a product candidate for clinical development, development costs will be shared equally, with each party retaining a 50% share of the product rights. If one of the companies decides not to move a therapeutic candidate forward, the other company is entitled to continue developing the product at predefined licensing terms. The agreement also includes terms which allow the parties to opt out of joint development at key points in each product’s clinical development.
This commercial agreement follows a July 2014 research collaboration between Genmab and BioNovion.
“We are pleased to expand our research collaboration with BioNovion into a full commercial agreement, and utilize our robust and versatile DuoBody technology to create unique differentiated cancer therapeutics in the promising field of immuno-oncology,” said Jan van de Winkel, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Genmab.
About Genmab A/S
Genmab is a publicly traded, international biotechnology company specializing in the creation and development of differentiated human antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Founded in 1999, the company currently has one marketed antibody, Arzerra® (ofatumumab) for the treatment of certain chronic lymphocytic leukemia indications and daratumumab in late stage clinical development for multiple myeloma. Additionally Genmab has a clinical pipeline with both late and early stage programs, and an innovative pre-clinical pipeline. Genmab's technology base consists of validated and proprietary next generation antibody technologies - the DuoBody® platform for generation of bispecific antibodies, and the HexaBody™ platform which creates effector function enhanced antibodies. Genmab's deep antibody expertise is expected to provide a stream of future product candidates. Partnering of selected innovative product candidates and technologies is a key focus of Genmab’s strategy and the company has alliances with top tier pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. For more information visit www.genmab.com
Contact:
Rachel Curtis Gravesen, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications
T: +45 33 44 77 20; M: +45 25 12 62 60; E: r.gravesen@genmab.com
This Company Announcement contains forward looking statements. The words “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intend” and “plan” and similar expressions identify forward looking statements. Actual results or performance may differ materially from any future results or performance expressed or implied by such statements. The important factors that could cause our actual results or performance to differ materially include, among others, risks associated with pre-clinical and clinical development of products, uncertainties related to the outcome and conduct of clinical trials including unforeseen safety issues, uncertainties related to product manufacturing, the lack of market acceptance of our products, our inability to manage growth, the competitive environment in relation to our business area and markets, our inability to attract and retain suitably qualified personnel, the unenforceability or lack of protection of our patents and proprietary rights, our relationships with affiliated entities, changes and developments in technology which may render our products obsolete, and other factors. For a further discussion of these risks, please refer to the risk management sections in Genmab’s most recent financial reports, which are available on www.genmab.com . Genmab does not undertake any obligation to update or revise forward looking statements in this Company Announcement nor to confirm such statements in relation to actual results, unless required by law.
Genmab A/S and its subsidiaries own the following trademarks: Genmab ® ; the Y-shaped Genmab logo ® ; Genmab in combination with the Y-shaped Genmab logo™; the DuoBody logo™; the HexaBody logo™; HuMax ® ; HuMax-CD20 ® ; DuoBody ® ; HexaBody™ and UniBody ® . Arzerra ® is a registered trademark of the GSK group of companies.
Company Announcement no. 04
CVR no. 2102 3884
Genmab A/S
Bredgade 34E
1260 Copenhagen K
Denmark
