Licensed product candidate update

Abzena plc

Licensed product candidate update

Cambridge, UK, 2 November 2016 - Abzena plc (AIM: ABZA, 'Abzena'), a life sciences group providing services and technologies enabling the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, notes that during the conference call to accompany Gilead Sciences Inc.'s ('Gilead') announcement of third quarter earnings on 1 November 2016, Gilead stated that no further development of simtuzumab will be pursued. In addition, GS-5745 will not be progressed further for Crohns Disease.

This follows on from the announcement on 20 October 2016 of top line Phase II clinical study results of Gilead's product, GS-4997 (selonsertib) in combination with the investigational monoclonal antibody, simtuzumab (SIM) or SIM alone, in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Simtuzumab and GS-5745 are part of a range of products created using Abzena's Composite Human Antibody™ technology that its partners have been progressing in clinical development.

Further information about Abzena's portfolio of Composite Human Antibodies™ - 'Abzena Inside' products - in clinical development, and the range of Abzena's services and technologies, can be found on the website: www.abzena.com.

The announcement and presentation for Gilead's third quarter earnings can be found here: http://investors.gilead.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=69964&p=irol-earnings

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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