Abzena notes True North Therapeutics acquisition

Abzena plc

Bioverativ to acquire True North Therapeutics and the Abzena Inside portfolio product, TNT009

Cambridge, UK, 24 May 2017 - Abzena plc (AIM: ABZA, 'Abzena' or the 'Group'), the life sciences group providing services and technologies to enable the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, notes the announcement from Bioverativ Inc. (NASDAQ: BIVV), that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire True North Therapeutics for an upfront payment of $400 million plus assumed cash. True North investors are also eligible to receive additional payments of up to $425 million contingent on the achievement of future development, regulatory and sales milestones.

As part of the acquisition, Bioverativ will obtain worldwide rights to True North Therapeutics' lead candidate, TNT009, a first-in-class monoclonal antibody in development to treat cold agglutinin disease (CAD).

CAD is a rare and chronic haemolytic condition that often leads to severe anaemia, requiring numerous transfusions, and can result in life-threatening thrombotic events. There are no approved therapies for CAD, which occurs in approximately 16 people per million globally, including an estimated 5,000 people in the United States.

TNT009 was created using Abzena's Composite Human Antibody technology and falls within the Abzena Inside portfolio of products being developed by Abzena's partners.

A full version of Bioverativ's release can be found on its website: www.bioverativ.com.

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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 

About True North Therapeutics

True North Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class product candidates for complement-mediated diseases. The company's lead product candidate, TNT009, is designed to selectively inhibit a target in the classical complement pathway. True North's antibody drug development is focused on the treatment of certain rare diseases mediated by the complement system. True North Therapeutics is located in South San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit www.truenorthrx.com.

Bioverativ

Bioverativ is a global biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the lives of people with hemophilia and other rare blood disorders through world-class research, development and commercialization of innovative therapies. Launched in 2017 following separation from Biogen Inc., Bioverativ builds upon a strong heritage of scientific innovation and is committed to actively working with the blood disorders community. The company's mission is to create progress for patients where they need it most and its hemophilia therapies when launched represented the first major advancements in hemophilia treatment in more than two decades. For more information, visit www.bioverativ.com or follow @bioverativ on Twitter.