ABLYNX ANNOUNCES CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT
GHENT, Belgium, 27 July 2010 - Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX] today announced that its Chief Scientific Officer, Debbie Law, has resigned from her position at Ablynx, effective 31 August, as she will be returning to the USA with her family for personal reasons.
The Ablynx senior management will work closely to ensure continuity of scientific strategy and progress until a replacement for Dr. Law has been identified.
"It has been a pleasure working with Debbie who brought great knowledge, biologics experience and passion to Ablynx. We thank Debbie for her accomplishments and commitment to Ablynx and greatly appreciate all she has done to help us develop Ablynx into what we believe is one of the most advanced independent, next generation biologics companies. We wish her the best of luck in returning to the USA," said Dr. Edwin Moses, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
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About Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX] - http://www.ablynx.com
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 230 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 190 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 28 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, Novartis and Pfizer (previously Wyeth Pharmaceuticals). 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 recently concluded a Phase I study.
In September 2009, Ablynx's partner Pfizer entered a Phase II study in RA patients, with an anti-TNF-alpha Nanobody.
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
postmenopausal women. ALX-0061, an anti-IL6R Nanobody is in preclinical development for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. 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, tumour 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: [email protected]
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: [email protected]
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