'Abzena inside' product enters Phase II trial

Abzena plc

'Abzena inside' product for neurodegenerative conditions

moves into Phase II trial

Cambridge, UK, 6 March 2017 - Abzena plc (AIM: ABZA, 'Abzena' or the 'Group'), a life sciences group providing services and technologies enabling the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, notes that one of the 'Abzena inside' Composite Human Antibody™ products previously disclosed as being in Phase I trials is moving forwards into a Phase II clinical trial.

The product is being developed by an un-named major US pharmaceutical company for the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions and has been studied to date in two Phase I clinical trials.

Dr John Burt, Abzena's CEO, said:

"We are pleased to see the progression of this 'Abzena inside' product into Phase II clinical development following the recent similar announcements about two other 'Abzena inside' products. This illustrates the strength we have in the portfolio of products that our partners are developing based on our antibody engineering technology."

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About Abzena

Abzena (AIM: ABZA) provides proprietary technologies and complementary services to enable the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, a growing area that requires specialist knowledge and expertise. The Group has a global customer base which includes the majority of the top 20 biopharmaceutical companies as well as large and small biotech companies and academic groups.

The term "Abzena inside" is used by Abzena to describe products that have been created using its proprietary technologies and are being developed by its partners, and include Composite Human Antibodies™ and ThioBridge™ Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs). Abzena has the potential to earn future licence fees, milestone payments and/or royalties on "Abzena inside" products.

Abzena offers the following services and technologies across its principal sites in Cambridge (UK), San Diego, California (USA) and Bristol, Pennsylvania (USA).

· Immunogenicity assessment, protein engineering to create humanized antibodies and deimmunised therapeutic proteins, and cell line development for manufacture.

· Contract process development and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals, including monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins, vaccines, and gene therapy and cell therapy products, for preclinical and clinical studies.

· Proprietary site-specific conjugation technologies for antibody drug conjugate development and solutions for optimizing the therapeutic properties of biopharmaceuticals.

· Contract chemistry and bioconjugation business focused on ADCs and is establishing the capability to manufacture ADCs to GMP standards.

For more information, please see www.abzena.com