A collaborative agreement to re-engineer a therapeutic antibody into recombinant antibody fragments for diagnostic imaging

LOS ANGELES, CA, USA | May 19, 2010 | ImaginAb, Inc. and the GSK Clinical Imaging Centre (part of the GlaxoSmithKline Group of Companies) have concluded two research collaboration agreements around a clinical therapeutic antibody asset currently under development by GSK in the field of oncology.

"ImaginAb is pleased to have formalized this collaboration with the GSK CIC," said Dr. Christian Behrenbruch, CEO of ImaginAb. "Not only does GSK have an excellent biologics pipeline, but the company’s large-scale commitment to diagnostic imaging is extremely impressive and this particular collaboration is a natural fit with ImaginAb’s technology platform."

"Our collaboration with ImaginAb for antibody fragment imaging is part of our further exploration of the role of biologics in diagnostic imaging with Positron Emission Tomography (PET), an increasingly important clinical modality and a tool that is of significant interest to pharma in the discovery and development of new therapeutics," commented Dr. Paul Matthews, VP for Translational Research and Head of the GSK CIC. "As we expand and develop our pipeline, technologies such as ImaginAb’s recombinant antibody fragment engineering technology may help us to look at targeted molecular therapeutics in new ways."

About GSK Clinical Imaging Centre

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Imperial College London (ICL) and the Medical Research Centre (MRC) have established a unique research collaboration in medical imaging, creating a Clinical Imaging Centre (CIC) based at Hammersmith Hospital in West London. The GSK CIC uses and advances the latest technologies in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). Research focuses on cancer, stroke, neurological and psychiatric diseases.

GSK is one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies and is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.

About ImaginAb

Founded in 2007 by UCLA Faculty (Dr. Rob Reiter and Dr. Anna Wu), ImaginAb, Inc. is an early-stage biotechnology company specializing in the development of engineered antibody fragments for diagnostic imaging and radioimmunotherapy. The company has a significant pipeline of clinical imaging agents under development oriented towards unmet needs in cancer and immunology. ImaginAb is also developing a range of pre-clinical (animal imaging) reagents for use with microPET and microSPECT systems and partners on a selective basis with biopharmaceutical companies with an interest in developing companion imaging agents for therapeutic antibody products.

SOURCE ImaginAb, Inc.