Expansion to OptiMAL collaboration agreement

RNS REACH

28 August 2024

Fusion Antibodies plc

("Fusion" or the "Company")

Expansion to OptiMAL^® collaboration agreement 

Fusion Antibodies plc (AIM: FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, announces an expansion to the collaboration agreement (the "Agreement") with the National Cancer Institute ("NCI").

The Company has entered into a variation to the Agreement with NCI, pursuant to which the collaboration between the parties will be expanded to include the humanisation by Fusion of several of the NCI's existing camelid nanobodies. Camelid nanobodies are small antibodies derived from camel species that offer benefits in bi-specific therapies and Chimeric Antigen Receptor ("CAR") therapies.

NCI, part of the US National Institutes of Health, is the US federal government's principal agency for cancer research and training. Pursuant to the Agreement, details of which were announced by the Company on 28 November 2023, Fusion has provided NCI with access to OptiMAL^® for use in the discovery of novel antibodies against targets selected by Dr. Mitchell Ho's Lab at the NCI.

Richard Buick, CSO of Fusion Antibodies plc, commented: "We are excited to deploy our class leading humanisation technology to these nanobodies developed by Mitchell Ho's group at the NCI, as they have shown excellent activity in published models for CAR-T therapy. We look forward to being able to assist the NCI in their path to clinical success and to continuing to foster goodwill with the NCI in this wider capacity."

Enquiries: 

About Fusion Antibodies plc

Fusion is a Belfast based contract research organisation ("CRO") providing a range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications.

The Company's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December 2017. Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation. These services include antigen expression, antibody production, purification and sequencing, antibody humanisation using Fusion's proprietary CDRx ^TM platform and the production of antibody generating stable cell lines to provide material for use in clinical trials. Since 2012, the Company has successfully sequenced and expressed over 250 antibodies and successfully completed over 200 humanisation projects and has an international, blue-chip client base, which has included eight of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.

The Company was established in 2001 as a spin out from Queen's University Belfast. The Company's mission is to enable pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies to develop innovative products in a timely and cost-effective manner for the benefit of the global healthcare industry. Fusion Antibodies provides a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production, characterisation and optimisation.

Fusion Antibodies growth strategy is based on combining the latest technological advances with cutting edge science to deliver new platforms that will enable Pharma and Biotech companies get to the clinic faster, with the optimal drug candidate and ultimately speed up the drug development process. 

About Reach announcements

This is a Reach announcement. Reach is an investor communication service aimed at assisting listed and unlisted (including AIM quoted) companies to distribute media only / non-regulatory news releases into the public domain. Information required to be notified under the AIM Rules for Companies, Market Abuse Regulation or other regulation would be disseminated as an RNS regulatory announcement and not on Reach.