AnaptysBio Announces Antibody Development Agreement With Momenta

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody company today announced the initiation of an antibody development program with Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. focused on the development of novel antibodies against a therapeutically relevant target. 

Under this agreement, Momenta will pay an upfront fee to AnaptysBio in exchange for an option to acquire antibodies generated by AnaptysBio using its SHM-XEL platform against a specific therapeutic target.  Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"AnaptysBio's platform technology and antibody development capabilities have been strongly validated by numerous successful partnerships," said Hamza Suria, AnaptysBio's president and chief executive officer. "We look forward to working with Momenta on the development of these exciting new antibodies for unmet medical needs."

About AnaptysBio

AnaptysBio is a privately-held company focused on the generation of antibody therapeutics and is the leader in the use of somatic hypermutation (SHM) for antibody discovery and optimization. We are developing a pipeline of novel therapeutic antibody candidates, including differentiated programs in cancer immunotherapy, inflammation, fibrosis, muscle wasting disorders and antibody-drug conjugate applications.  AnaptysBio's proprietary SHM-XEL™ platform, which couples fully human antibody libraries with in vitro somatic hypermutation in mammalian cells to generate high affinity antibodies, replicates key features of the human immune system and overcomes limitations of prior antibody technologies.  By harnessing the natural mechanism of antibody maturation under controlled conditions, SHM-XEL allows for the selection of optimal antibody properties such as high affinity, stability, function, cross-reactivity, epitope diversity and manufacturability. The Company has previously announced partnerships with Merck, Roche, Novartis, Celgene, Gilead, DARPA and DTRA.  Major investors in AnaptysBio include Alloy Ventures, Avalon Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Novo A/S.  For more information, visit www.anaptysbio.com.

SOURCE AnaptysBio, Inc.