ImaginAb Inc. Announces Strategic Collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim to Develop New Technology for Monitoring Anti-tumor Activity of the Immune System

INGLEWOOD, Calif. and INGELHEIM AM RHEIN, Germany, Sept. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ImaginAb, an immuno-oncology imaging company, announced today a collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, one of the world's 20 leading pharmaceutical companies, to further develop ImaginAb's CD8 T Cell imaging technology. The collaboration will focus on the development of ImaginAb's unique and innovative CD8 T Cell ImmunoPET, an imaging agent that has the potential to expedite the development and market launch of next-generation cancer immune-therapies. Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.

The CD8 T cell imaging agent will be tested for its potential to non-invasively determine changes in CD8⁺ T cell tumor infiltrates induced by immuno-oncological treatments in first clinical studies. This approach has the potential to guide the development of immuno-modulatory agents as well as assess early on whether a patient responds to such a treatment. The parties will share data from a clinical study in melanoma patients treated with standard of care checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Changes in the uptake of the CD8 T cell imaging agent following treatment induction will be assessed as part of the collaboration, and Boehringer Ingelheim will partially fund ImaginAb's clinical development program.

"We are delighted about our partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim, centered on helping them accelerate their clinical immuno-oncology development.  This is our first clinical partnership, and an important milestone for us. We are in the process of forming similar partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies, using our unique engineered antibody fragment platform," said Martyn Coombs, CEO at ImaginAb. 

"We are excited to partner with ImaginAb to implement an innovative, non-invasive technology for our drug development. Our collaboration with ImaginAb will establish clinical information on the potential of CD8 T cell imaging to support cancer immunology development," said  Prof. Florian Gantner, Head of Translational Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology at Boehringer Ingelheim. "It will deliver information on whether the patients' tumors are inflamed and whether they respond to treatment. This bears great potential to support better treatment decisions for the patient as well as faster selection of the best candidate compounds for the development of immuno oncologic treatments," Prof. Gantner commented further.

About ImaginAb

ImaginAb Inc. is an immuno-oncology company focused on providing actionable insight into patient selection and treatment progress for cancer immunotherapy, enabling precision medicine. ImaginAb engineers antibody fragments called minibodies that maintain the exquisite specificity of full-length antibodies while remaining inert in the body. Used with widely available PET scan technology, these novel minibodies illuminate high-value molecular targets, providing physicians with a whole-body picture of immune activity. ImaginAb is also advancing a best-in-class imaging agent to improve prostate cancer management and patient outcomes, as well as developing a pipeline for other targets in oncology. ImaginAb's products have the potential to improve patient care and lower healthcare costs.
For more information please see www.imaginab.com.

SOURCE ImaginAb Inc.

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