Micromet Achieves Milestone under BiTE Antibody Collaboration with Bayer Schering Pharma

BETHESDA, Md., April 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Micromet, Inc. (Nasdaq: MITI) a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of next-generation antibodies for the treatment of cancer, announced today that it has achieved a milestone under its collaboration agreement with Bayer Schering Pharma AG.  The milestone was triggered by Micromet's achievement of pre-clinical proof of concept for a BiTE antibody for the treatment of solid tumors.

"We have made important progress in advancing the development of this program since signing the collaboration agreement in January 2009," said Jens Hennecke, Ph.D., Micromet's Senior Vice President, Business Development.  "We look forward to continuing our productive collaboration with Bayer Schering Pharma."

Under the terms of the collaboration agreement Micromet is primarily responsible for the pre-clinical development of the BiTE antibody, and will collaborate with Bayer through the completion of phase 1 clinical trials.  Bayer is responsible for product development beginning in phase 2, and for all manufacturing and commercialization activities.  Micromet is entitled to receive progress dependent milestone payments of up to 285 million Euros and up to double digit royalties on net sales.  In addition, Micromet will be reimbursed for its R&D expenses.

About BiTE Antibodies

BiTE® antibodies are designed to direct the body's cytotoxic, or cell-destroying, T cells against tumor cells, and represent a new therapeutic approach to cancer therapy.  Typically, antibodies cannot engage T cells because T cells lack the appropriate receptors for binding antibodies.  BiTE antibodies have been shown to bind T cells to tumor cells, ultimately inducing a self-destruction process in the tumor cells referred to as apoptosis, or programmed cell death. In the presence of BiTE antibodies, T cells have been demonstrated to serially eliminate tumor cells, which explains the activity of BiTE antibodies at very low concentrations.  Through the killing process, T cells start to proliferate, which leads to an increased number of T cells at the site of attack.

About Micromet, Inc.

Micromet, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative antibody-based therapies for the treatment of cancer.  Its product development pipeline includes novel antibodies generated with its proprietary BiTE® technology, as well as conventional monoclonal antibodies.  Two of Micromet's BiTE antibodies and three of its conventional antibodies are currently in clinical trials. Micromet has collaborations with a number of leading pharmaceutical companies, including sanofi-aventis, Bayer Schering Pharma, Nycomed, Merck Serono, and AstraZeneca's wholly owned subsidiary MedImmune.  Additional information can be found at www.micromet-inc.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the collaboration with Bayer Schering Pharma.  You are urged to consider statements that include the words "ongoing," "may," "will," "believes," "potential," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "intends," or the negative of those words or other similar words to be uncertain and forward-looking.  Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements include the risk that blinatumomab does not demonstrate safety and/or efficacy in future clinical trials, the risk that we will not obtain approval to market blinatumomab and the risks associated with reliance on outside financing to meet capital requirements.  These factors and others are more fully discussed in Micromet's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009, filed with the SEC on March 5, 2010, as well as other filings by the company with the SEC.

SOURCE Micromet, Inc.