Apexigen Announces the Filing of an IND by its Partner, 3SBio Inc.

BURLINGAME, Calif., Aug. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Apexigen, Inc., an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics, announced today that its partner, 3SBio [SSRX] of Shenyang, China, filed an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for APX001, also known as SSS07, with the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) in China. Upon approval of the IND, APX001/SSS07 will be studied in clinical trials for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. APX001/SSS07 was discovered through the use of Apexigen's proprietary monoclonal antibody technologies and has been developed by 3SBio in China under a license from Apexigen. APX001/SSS07 is the second antibody discovered through the use of Apexigen's technologies for which an IND has been filed with the SFDA.

"We congratulate our colleagues at 3SBio on this IND filing," said Dr. Xiaodong Yang, President and CEO of Apexigen. "It represents the hard work of many individuals working collaboratively as a team to achieve the common goal. We look forward to continuing success in our collaboration."

About Apexigen, Inc.

Apexigen, Inc. is an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on improving patient care by translating the unique attributes of its proprietary antibody technologies into superior therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other difficult-to-treat diseases. Apexigen has a robust antibody platform technology and a pipeline of seven humanized antibody product candidates. Apexigen's proprietary antibody technologies produce a broad diversity of antibodies with high specificity and high affinity against unique epitopes. It can successfully generate antibodies against challenging antigens where competing technologies fail. This technology allows Apexigen to identify antibodies with unique functional characteristics for optimal therapeutic benefit.

Developing its product pipeline through collaborations is an important aspect of Apexigen's business model. Several antibodies derived from its technology have been licensed to companies in China who are developing them for commercialization there. In addition, Apexigen has also licensed the use of its antibody technologies to multinational companies for use in the development of therapeutics worldwide. Additional information is available at www.apexigen.com.

SOURCE Apexigen, Inc.