Apexigen, Inc. Announces Collaboration for Antibody Discovery

BURLINGAME, Calif., Dec. 7, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Apexigen, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a collaboration and worldwide license agreement with Centocor Research & Development, Inc. and its affiliates to utilize Apexigen's proprietary therapeutic antibody technologies to discover and develop monoclonal antibody drugs.  Apexigen will generate and screen antibodies to several targets specified by Centocor R&D, which will be responsible for development and commercialization of all products resulting from the collaboration.  While financial details were not disclosed, Apexigen will receive an upfront license fee, and is eligible to receive future milestone and royalty payments if certain development and commercialization milestones are achieved.

Apexigen's antibody technologies produce a broad diversity of antibodies with high specificity, high affinity, and unique epitopes, and can successfully generate antibodies against challenging antigens where competing technologies fail. This enables the development of 'best-in-class' therapeutic antibodies.  

"We're excited about this collaboration and look forward to working closely with Centocor R&D," said Dr. Xiaodong Yang, President & CEO of Apexigen.  "Our goal is to become a world leader in the development of best-in-class therapeutic antibodies.  To achieve this goal, we plan to collaborate with partners while also developing our own product pipeline."

About Apexigen

Apexigen, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of best-in-class therapeutic antibodies.  Apexigen has exclusive rights to the proprietary antibody technologies that were developed by Epitomics, Inc. for the development and commercialization of human therapeutics. In addition, Apexigen assumed development and commercialization responsibility for a pipeline of therapeutic product programs initiated by Epitomics.

Located in Burlingame, CA, Apexigen is actively developing its internal therapeutic product pipeline and seeking to form collaborative relationships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the discovery and development of pharmaceutical products based on its humanized rabbit monoclonal antibody technologies.  More information about Apexigen is available at www.apexigen.com.

SOURCE Apexigen, Inc.