arGEN-X to advance SIMPLE Antibody platform for treatment of autoimmune disorders

arGEN-X, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of human monoclonal antibodies from its proprietary SIMPLE Antibody™ platform, announced today it has received a grant of €1.3 million to further advance its powerful discovery platform for addressing challenging disease targets. The grant was awarded by the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT), and is the third award the Company has received from the institute, totalling €4.1 million to date.

The SIMPLE Antibody™platform is rapidly transforming the therapeutic antibody space by enabling the production of multiple novel and diverse leads against complex soluble, cell surface and highly conserved targets. The high quality of these leads allows the rapid selection of fully human antibodies with superb functional potency and specificity. arGEN-X can further increase the cytotoxic potency of these leads through its use of POTELLIGENT^® Technology, licensed from BioWa, Inc. in 2011.

The power of the SIMPLE Antibody™ platform is underscored by the rapid progress arGEN-X made in its first biopharma collaboration in which it delivered a panel of unique, diverse antibodies against a technically complex target provided by the partner in record time. This success demonstrates how the SIMPLE Antibody™ platform can generate antibodies with outstanding qualities, even against targets beyond the reach of other antibody platforms.

arGEN-X has used the unique capabilities of the SIMPLE Antibody™ platform to generate its own pipeline of therapeutic antibodies. The Company has five therapeutic programs under development for the treatment of autoimmune disorders, inflammation and oncology, with two now in formal preclinical development. arGEN-X' most advanced program, ARGX-110, addresses a clinically validated cell surface receptor implicated in autoimmunity and cancer and has been shown in preclinical models to modulate target function with unrivalled potency. arGEN-X expects to file an IND application for ARGX-110 in early 2013.

The Company plans to use the €27.5 million it raised recently in an oversubscribed Series B financing round, to further enhance and leverage its platform and to advance and expand its internal pipeline, positioning itself as a clear leader in the therapeutic antibody space.  

Prof. Dr. Hans de Haard, CSO of arGEN-X added: "Our SIMPLE Antibody™ platform is unique in producing a phenomenal diversity of functional antibodies against complex targets, particularly cell surface receptors and highly conserved proteins. This allows us to identify therapeutic antibodies with previously unseen properties addressing key disease areas. Today's news, combined with our recent fund raising, provides us with the financial resources to progress towards our goal of broadening the clinical utility of fully human therapeutic antibodies."