Antibody Engineering Company f-Star Appoints Three Pioneers in Antibody Engineering and Development to its Newly Established Scientific Advisory Board
VIENNA, Austria, December 12 /PRNewswire/ -- f-star, an antibody engineering company developing novel antibodies and antibody fragments based on its unique Modular Antibody Technology, announced today that it has established a Scientific Advisory Board and has appointed three outstanding scientists to form the nucleus of this advisory body. Members of f-star's Scientific Advisory Board include:
Professor Sir Ravinder Maini, Imperial College, London, UK
Sir Ravinder Maini is Emeritus Professor of Rheumatology at Imperial College, University of London, UK, and currently a member of the Trust Board of The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, London. He is a pioneer in the research and development of anti-TNF therapy, played a vital role in research and clinical development of infliximab (Remicade), and was a non-Executive Director of Domantis, the antibody engineering company founded in 2000 and acquired by GSK in 2006.
Professor Anthony Rees, MIP Technologies AB, Lund, Sweden
Anthony Rees is CEO of MIP Technologies AB, a company developing molecularly imprinted polymers. He was previously Scientific Director at the French biotech company Synt:em and before that Head of the School of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Bath, UK. In 1989, Dr Rees was scientific co-founder of Oxford Molecular plc which marketed antibody modelling software developed by his group at Universities of Oxford and Bath, now available as a web-based modelling service and widely used in antibody engineering.
Professor Sir Gregory Winter, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK
Sir Gregory Winter is Deputy Director of the Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Head of the Division of Protein and Nucleic Acids Chemistry. Sir Gregory developed technologies for making human antibodies, and most of the therapeutic antibodies on the market were developed using methods devised by him. He was a founder and Director of Cambridge Antibody Technology, now part of MedImmune, AstraZeneca's biologics business unit. In 2000 he co-founded Domantis, recently acquired by GSK, and acted as Director and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board.
"We are enthusiastic and feel highly privileged that these pioneers in antibody engineering and development will support us in our mission to develop next generation therapeutics based on our Modular Antibody Technology", said Gottfried Himmler, Chief Executive Officer, f-star. "Their in-depth experience and advice will be an invaluable asset in our efforts to build f-star into a major player in the next generation antibody field."
About f-star
f-star is an antibody engineering company based in Vienna, Austria. The Company develops improved therapeutic antibodies and antibody fragments based on its Modular Antibody Technology, which allows the introduction of additional binding sites into antibodies and antibody fragments by engineering the non-CDR loops of constant or variable domains. Modular Antibody Technology allows for the creation of antibody fragments with antibody functionality and long half-life but much smaller size (Fcab(TM)) or full antibodies with additional functionality (mAb squared).
The Company was founded by a team of highly experienced antibody engineering and biotech executives. Seed-financed by Austrian government agencies and Atlas Venture in 2006, the Company raised EUR 9.0m in a Series A financing round from Aescap Venture, Atlas Venture and Novo A/S in 2007. In total, the Company has raised more than EUR 13m so far.
For more information, visit http://www.f-star.comhttp://www.f-star.comoffice@f-star.comoffice@butschbacher.nethttp://www.butschbacher.net
CONTACT: Company contact: Dr. Eugen Stermetz, CFO, f-star
Biotechnologische Forschungs- und Entwicklungs-GmbH, +43-72055-4215,
Gastgebgasse 5-13, A-1230 Vienna, Austria, office@f-star.com; Media
contact: Frank Butschbacher, Investor Relations & Communications,
+43-650-78-44-940, office@butschbacher.net