AnaptysBio Awarded U.S. Government Contract To Develop Anti-Ricin Antibodies

SAN DIEGO, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody company, today announced the receipt of a contract award from the U.S. government for the development of highly thermostable anti-ricin antibodies for biodefense applications.  Under the terms of AnaptysBio's contract with the Science and Technology Corporation, AnaptysBio will be responsible for delivering anti-ricin antibodies to the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center (ECBC), an agency of the U.S. Army.  This contract is funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and follows successful completion of multiple biodefense-related antibody programs by AnaptysBio in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). 

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The Company's antibody platform, known as SHM-XEL, is uniquely positioned to generate highly potent, functional antibodies for therapeutic and diagnostic uses.  Utilizing a proprietary antibody scaffold in conjunction with SHM-XEL, AnaptysBio has recently published the development of multiple full-length antibodies with unprecedented thermostability properties.   Extended stability at room temperature conditions minimizes the cold chain dependency of AnaptysBio's antibodies, which is a competitive advantage in the production, distribution and storage of therapeutic and diagnostic products.  

AnaptysBio's primary focus is to develop a pipeline of novel therapeutic antibodies for unmet medical needs in cancer immunotherapy, inflammation, muscle wasting disorders, fibrosis and antibody drug conjugate applications.  In addition, AnaptysBio is exploring new opportunities for antibodies in diagnostics and veterinary uses.

"We are pleased to expand our relationship with the U.S. government to address emerging biodefense priorities," said Hamza Suria, president & chief executive officer of AnaptysBio. "The speed and technical advantages of our SHM-XEL technology platform continue to attract new partnerships.  Our platform's features have permitted AnaptysBio to rapidly develop a differentiated internal product pipeline against emerging targets of interest to pharma." 

About AnaptysBio

Founded in 2005, AnaptysBio, Inc. is a privately-held company focused on the generation of antibody therapeutics, and the leader in the use of somatic hypermutation (SHM) for antibody discovery and optimization. AnaptysBio's proprietary SHM-XEL platform, which couples fully human antibody libraries with in vitro somatic hypermutation (SHM) in mammalian cells to generate high affinity lead candidates, replicates key features of the human immune system and overcomes limitations of prior antibody technologies.  By harnessing the natural mechanism of antibody maturation under controlled conditions, SHM-XEL allows for the selection of optimal antibody properties such as high affinity, function, cross-reactivity, epitope diversity and manufacturability. AnaptysBio has established broad intellectual property around the use of SHM and is currently building a pipeline of novel therapeutic antibody product candidates, including differentiated programs in cancer immunotherapy, inflammation, muscle wasting disorders, fibrosis and antibody-drug conjugate applications. The Company has previously announced pharma partnerships with Merck, Roche, Novartis, Celgene, Gilead and DARPA.  Major investors in AnaptysBio include Alloy Ventures, Avalon Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Novo A/S.  For more information, visit www.anaptysbio.com.

SOURCE AnaptysBio, Inc.