arGEN-X Appoints Alain Thibault as Chief Medical Officer and Koos Rasser as IP Counsel

ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands and GHENT, Belgium, March 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

arGEN-X, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of human monoclonal antibodies from its proprietary SIMPLE Antibody™ platform, announces today that it has strengthened its management team with two key hires. Alain Thibault, MD joins the Company as Chief Medical Officer, while Jacobus (Koos) Rasser, PhD, JD will serve as IP Counsel.

Dr. Alain Thibault has gained a wealth of clinical development experience in oncology, both in the US and Europe, in a career spanning more than 15 years. Prior to joining arGEN-X, Dr.Thibault was therapeutic area head of Oncology at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for clinical development, product strategy and portfolio management, as well as coordination of the collaboration with Sanofi to develop fully human antibody products for multiple cancer indications. While at Regeneron, Dr. Thibault led the clinical development of VEGF Trap (aflibercept) as well as the fully human antibody products REGN 421 and REGN 910. Dr. Thibault has extensive clinical development expertise across all stages of biopharmaceutical clinical development, having previously held senior research positions at Johnson & Johnson and Hoffman-La Roche before joining Regeneron.

Koos Rasser, PhD, JD brings over 30 years of experience in the development and commercialization of global intellectual property portfolios. Before joining arGEN-X, Dr. Rasser was senior partner at the global IP law firm Howrey LLP and founded its London practice. Among his clients in the pharma/biotech field were Biogen Idec, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Eppendorf, Schering Plough and Amersham. He also acted as interim IP Director at Akzo Nobel's Organon Division. Prior to his tenure at Howrey, Dr. Rasser was head of the global IP organization at Procter & Gamble, where he was responsible for a portfolio of more than 2,000 patent families protecting over a dozen billion-dollar brands.

Welcoming Alain and Koos to the Company, Tim Van Hauwermeiren, Chief Executive Officer at arGEN-X said: "We are delighted to have attracted such high caliber individuals as Alain and Koos to arGEN-X at such an exciting time in our evolution. As the quality and productivity of our SIMPLE Antibody™ platform translates consistently into clinical development opportunities and valuable new intellectual property, their expertise will be fundamental to attaining our ambitious business goals and reaching our next value inflection point as a Company."

About arGEN-X - http://www.arGEN-X.com

arGEN-X is a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company that is rapidly leveraging the power of its broadly applicable, proprietary SIMPLE Antibody™ platform to generate fully human antibodies with differentiated qualities and outstanding therapeutic potential. The platform excels in delivering large panels of ultra-potent, functionally diverse antibodies against complex disease targets, especially cell surface receptors and highly conserved proteins. The superior choice that arGEN-X brings to antibody discovery enables it to prioritise leads with best-in-class therapeutic properties, thereby increasing the probability of development success. Antibody leads generated from the SIMPLE Antibody™ platform have outstanding physicochemical properties and consistent manufacturability, enabling a seamless transition from discovery into development. arGEN-X has validated its technology on multiple diverse classes of target to date and has successfully delivered in its collaboration with Eli Lilly & Co.. Recently, arGEN-X announced a strategic alliance with the specialty pharmaceutical company Shire, focused on the discovery and development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics to treat rare diseases.

Most recently, arGEN-X has obtained an exclusive global license to a technology named NHance™, to optimize the pharmacokinetic half-life of its SIMPLE Antibodies and maximize their therapeutic utility.

The SIMPLE Antibody™ and NHance™ platforms are covered by broad patent claims, enjoyingan independent, unencumbered patent position and are free of target gatekeeping restrictions.

SIMPLE stands for Superior Immunodiversity with Minimal Protein Lead Engineering.

arGEN-X™, SIMPLE Antibody™ and NHance™ are deposited trademarks of arGEN-X BV.

For licensing inquiries about NHance™, please contact

[email protected]

For further information, please contact:

Citigate Dewe Rogerson
David Dible
Mark Swallow
Nina Enegren
T: +44(0)207-282-2949/2948/1050
E:[email protected]


arGEN-X
Tim Van Hauwermeiren, MSc, eMBA
Chief Executive Officer
T: +31-6-122-85-257
E: [email protected]

Debbie Allen, Ph.D.
Senior Director, Business Development

T: +44(0)7974-979479
E: [email protected]

SOURCE arGEN-X