Los Angeles, CA: November 2, 2010 — ImaginAb, Inc. is pleased to announce it has been awarded grants to support two of the antibody-based imaging agents ImaginAb is developing for clinical use to fill large unmet needs in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. ImaginAb has been selected for the maximum level of funding for both programs.
Earlier this year, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 established the qualifying therapeutic discovery project (QTDP) under section 48D of the Internal Revenue Code. This program was designed to accelerate the development of technologies that would have a large impact on the diagnosis and treatment of significant diseases, and ultimately reduce long-term health care costs in the United States. Projects were also judged according to their potential for advancing United States competitiveness in the fields of life, biological and medical sciences.
“These awards enable us to further accelerate our clinical pipeline and will push two of our in vivo diagnostics products still closer to market” said Dr. Christian Behrenbruch, CEO of ImaginAb. The first award goes to support the development of an antibody fragment for imaging prostate cancer, derived from the huJ591 anti-PSMA parental antibody (currently in Phase II clinical studies). The second award supports ImaginAb’s lead product for imaging immune function.
About ImaginAb
Founded in 2007 by UCLA Faculty (Dr. Rob Reiter and Dr. Anna Wu), ImaginAb, Inc. is a biotechnology company specializing in the development of engineered antibody fragments for diagnostic imaging and novel therapeutic applications. The company has a significant pipeline of clinical products in 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, microSPECT and optical imaging systems, and partners on a selective basis with biopharmaceutical companies with an interest in developing companion imaging agents for therapeutic antibody products. For more information about ImaginAb, visit www.imaginab.com.
