Genmab Announces Progress With DuoBody(TM) Platform

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Dec. 20, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Genmab A/S(Copenhagen:GEN) announced today that the company has entered a research collaboration with an as yet undisclosed, new large pharmaceutical partner to investigate a bispecific antibody-drug conjugate using Genmab's DuoBody technology in combination with a novel antibody-drug conjugate technology platform from the pharma company. If successful, the parties may decide to enter into a license agreement to further develop a new DuoBody-ADC product. The target in the collaboration is clinically validated and expressed on solid tumors.

"This research collaboration with a large pharma company marks a first step in our strategy to sign different types of partnership based on our innovative bispecific antibody technology. This partnership will help us to investigate the use of our DuoBody platform in creating more effective treatments for cancer," said Jan van de Winkel, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Genmab. 

This agreement will not have a material impact on Genmab's 2011 financial guidance.

About the DuoBody platform

Genmab's proprietary DuoBody platform creates human bispecific antibodies which bind to two different epitopes, on the same or different disease targets.  Bispecific antibodies have the potential to be more potent and efficacious than other antibody therapeutics due to this increased specificity. The DuoBody technology platform uses a natural process to create bispecific antibodies which are ready for therapeutic application without recloning into a therapeutic format.  In addition, any antibody sequence can be applied and combined for the generation of new bispecific antibodies via the DuoBody platform. Large scale manufacturing of DuoBody molecules is based on scalable processes. Bispecific antibodies created using the DuoBody platform have possible application in oncology, autoimmune, central nervous system, and infectious diseases.

About Genmab A/S

Genmab is a publicly traded, international biotechnology company specializing in the creation and development of differentiated human antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.  Founded in 1999, the company's first marketed antibody, Arzerra(R) (ofatumumab), was approved to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia that is refractory to fludarabine and alemtuzumab after less than eight years in development. Genmab's validated and next generation antibody technologies are expected to provide a steady stream of future product candidates. Partnering of innovative product candidates and technologies is a key focus of Genmab's strategy and the company has alliances with top tier pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. For more information visit www.genmab.com. 

Contact:
Rachel Curtis Gravesen, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Communication

T: +45 33 44 77 20; M: +45 25 12 62 60; E: [email protected]

This Company Announcement contains forward looking statements. The words "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend" and "plan" and similar expressions identify forward looking statements. Actual results or performance may differ materially from any future results or performance expressed or implied by such statements. The important factors that could cause our actual results or performance to differ materially include, among others, risks associated with pre-clinical and clinical development of products, uncertainties related to the outcome and conduct of clinical trials including unforeseen safety issues, uncertainties related to product manufacturing, the lack of market acceptance of our products, our inability to manage growth, the competitive environment in relation to our business area and markets, our inability to attract and retain suitably qualified personnel, the unenforceability or lack of protection of our patents and proprietary rights, our relationships with affiliated entities, changes and developments in technology which may render our products obsolete, and other factors. For a further discussion of these risks, please refer to the risk management sections in Genmab's most recent financial reports, which are available on www.genmab.com. Genmab does not undertake any obligation to update or revise forward looking statements in this Company Announcement nor to confirm such statements in relation to actual results, unless required by law.

Genmab(R); the Y-shaped Genmab logo(R); HuMax(R); HuMax-CD20(R); HuMax(R)-EGFr; HuMax(R)-IL8; HuMax(R)-TAC; HuMax(R)-CD38; HuMax(R)-TF; HuMax(R)-Her2; HuMax(R)-cMet, HuMax(R)-CD74, DuoBody(TM) and UniBody(R) are all trademarks of Genmab A/S. Arzerra(R) is a trademark of GlaxoSmithKline. 

Company Announcement no. 37

CVR no. 2102 3884

Genmab A/S

Bredgade 34

1260 Copenhagen K

Denmark

Attachments:

37 duobody collaboration_201211_uk.pdf

Source: Genmab A/S