Domantis Limited Announces Therapeutic Alliance With Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

WALTHAM, Mass., and CAMBRIDGE, UK, Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Domantis Limited, the human Domain Antibody (dAb) therapeutics company, today announced a multi-target discovery collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company to develop dAb therapeutics for uses in the fields of immunology and oncology.

The collaborators aim to discover a range of novel dAbs to address therapeutic targets involved in T-cell co-stimulation (part of the human immune response), some of which may not be amenable to targeting with conventional antibody approaches.

Under the terms of the agreement, Domantis will receive $9.2 million in upfront and guaranteed research payments. In addition, Domantis will be eligible for pre-clinical and clinical milestone payments of up to $20 million per product, as well as royalties on product sales. Domantis will contribute two of its existing dAb therapeutic programs and will create a range of new dAbs to predetermined targets, with Bristol-Myers Squibb having the exclusive right to develop and commercialize dAb therapeutics discovered during the collaboration.

"This is an exciting time for Domantis. We have created a significant revenue stream and product pipeline from our nine partner and grant programs and we expect to close additional deals in 2006 around several of our preclinical dAb programs," said Domantis' CEO Robert Connelly. "The commitment by Bristol-Myers Squibb is further validation of dAbs as the next generation of antibody therapeutics. We believe this alliance could produce several novel dAb therapeutics for the treatment of important diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, transplant rejection and many others in the fields of both immunology and oncology."

Notes to Editors

Domantis is a drug development company that is leveraging its proprietary dominance in human dAbs to deliver therapies which address large, unmet medical needs including inflammation, cancer, respiratory and autoimmune diseases. In less than three years it has initiated more than a dozen proprietary therapeutic programs including preclinical dAb therapeutics for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and colorectal cancer.

Therapeutic antibodies are a major commercial opportunity. Seventeen monoclonal antibodies have been approved for use to date and these are expected to generate sales exceeding $9 billion by 2006. Fully human dAbs, the smallest possible binding fragments of full antibodies, combine the therapeutic benefits of small molecule drugs (formulation and administration versatility, wide therapeutic target range, low cost) with those of full human antibodies (enormous diversity, high specificity, lower toxicity). Thus they have very broad therapeutic relevance.

The growing antibody market and the commercial potential of dAbs makes Domantis an attractive partner for the pharmaceutical industry and it has already struck deals with Peptech, Abbott Laboratories, ImClone, Tanox and Argenta Discovery whilst also attracting funding from the European Union for several therapeutic collaborations. A series of dAb therapies derived from these collaborations should begin to enter the clinic in 2007.

Monoclonal antibodies were invented in the 1970s at the UK Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology (MRC-LMB), which has remained at the forefront of therapeutic antibody research since that time. In 1989, scientists in the LMB laboratories of Sir Gregory Winter published the discovery of dAbs. This discovery led to the creation of an extensive portfolio of intellectual property covering the development and use of dAbs, the binding domains of fully human antibodies. Domantis has exclusive licenses and assignments to these pioneering inventions for dAb products and extensive intellectual property covering dAb libraries, methods of discovery, compositions, and formulations of dAbs. As a result, Domantis is the only company capable of fully exploiting the commercial therapeutic applications of human dAbs.

Sir Gregory and Dr Ian Tomlinson, world-renowned scientists from the MRC- LMB, launched Domantis in December 2000. Sir Gregory was also a founder of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) plc. To date Domantis has raised $54 million from investors including 3i, Gray Ghost, Albany Ventures, MVM Limited, ISIS and Peptech Limited. Domantis employs over 50 staff and has laboratory facilities in Cambridge, UK and commercial offices in Waltham, Massachusetts, US. See also http://www.domantis.com.

For more information please contact Robert Connelly, CEO, Domantis + 1 781 250 2833 Europe: Nicki Brimicombe, NB PR + 44 1883 732353 USA: Ted Agne, ComStrat Group, +1 781 631 3117

CONTACT: Robert Connelly, CEO of Domantis, +1-781-250-2833; Europe: NickiBrimicombe of NB PR, +44 1883 732353; or USA: Ted Agne of ComStrat Group,+1-781-631-3117

Web site: http://www.domantis.com//