Cambridge Antibody announces therapeutic antibody licence agreement with Micromet.

Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc (Cambridge, England) announced the grant of a non-exclusive patent licence to Micromet AG (Munich, Germany) for the development and commercialisation of its proprietary human therapeutic antibody candidate MT201. The antibody, developed using phage display technologies controlled by Cambridge Antibody, is specific for the epithelial tumor target EpCAM and has the potential to address a broad range of cancer indications. MT201 is the subject of a co-development agreement with Novuspharma SpA to jointly develop the candidate through a Phase II programme scheduled to commence shortly.

Under the terms of the agreement with Cambridge Antibody, Micromet receives a worldwide licence in respect to all Cambridge Antibody's antibody phage display technology patents, both pending and granted, to develop antibody-based products targeting the EpCAM antigen. In return, Cambridge Antibody will receive an upfront licence fee from Micromet as well as milestone and royalty payments on human antibody-based products developed against the EpCAM target by Micromet and its partners.

Peter Chambre, Cambridge Antibody's Chief Executive Officer, commented; "We are very encouraged by the commitment and progress made by Micromet in therapeutic antibody development and are pleased that the company views a licence to Cambridge Antibody's antibody phage display patents as fundamental to its investment in this area. Cambridge Antibody's patent licensing strategy supports the growing enthusiasm for human antibodies as an extremely important class of drug addressing major areas of unmet medical need."

Christian Itin, Chief Business Officer of Micromet, commented; "Cambridge Antibody's antibody phage display technology was critical to the generation of MT201, a fully human IgG targeting EpCAM. The additional unique binding properties of MT201 came about as a result of the innovative approaches to display technology applied by Micromet researchers. We are looking forward with our partner Novuspharma to entering the next phase of the clinical development of MT201."

Cambridge Antibody is a leader in the discovery and development of human therapeutic antibodies and has an advanced proprietary platform technology for rapidly isolating human monoclonal antibodies using phage display and ribosome display systems. Cambridge Antibody has extensive phage antibody libraries, currently incorporating more than 100 billion distinct antibodies. These libraries form the basis for the Company's strategy to develop a portfolio of antibody-based drugs.

HUMIRA, their leading antibody, isolated and optimised in collaboration with Abbott has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for marketing in the United States as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

Eight further Cambridge Antibody-derived human therapeutic antibodies are at various stages of clinical trials. There are five candidate therapeutic antibodies in pre-clinical development.

Cambridge Antibody has alliances with a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to discover, develop and commercialise human monoclonal antibody-based products. Cambridge Antibody has co-development programmes with Amgen, Amrad, Elan and Genzyme. The company has also licensed its proprietary technologies to several companies. Cambridge Antibody's licensees include: Abbott, Amgen, Chugai, Human Genome Sciences, Merck & Co, Pfizer and Wyeth Research.

Micromet AG has established a drug development platform based on its BiTE technology ("Bispecific T cell engagers"), a unique drug format that leverages the outstanding cytotoxic potential of T cells, the most powerful 'killer cells' of the human immune system. In addition Micromet is exploiting the potential of SCAs (single-chain antibodies) for the development of novel drug formats under a multiyear strategic collaboration with Enzon, Inc.

Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc

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