Humabs Receives Milestone Payment from Novartis

Humabs BioMed SA, a leading Swiss antibody therapeutics company, announced that it has received a milestone payment from its licensing agreement with Novartis. In 2009, Humabs and Novartis entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for the use of selective human monoclonal antibodies discovered by Humabs’ proprietary Cellclone technology. A Novartis program based on this technology has entered into phase II clinical trials in the U.S. and Germany, triggering the payment.

“We are very pleased about reaching this important milestone,” said Alcide Barberis, CEO of Humabs BioMed. “This underlines the value of our platform, which is not just selecting for binders to pre-defined targets, but uses a functional, target-agnostic approach.”

Humabs BioMed is a leading Swiss antibody therapeutics company that discovers and develops superior antibodies directly derived from individuals who have successfully overcome major diseases. These "winner antibodies" have already passed natural selection by the immune system in response to disease and can easily be developed for standardized therapeutic use. The company currently focuses on infectious diseases, but also has selected antibodies against inflammatory diseases and cancer in the pipeline.

Humabs BioMed has established a unique technology platform and know-how allowing the selection of monoclonal antibodies from immortalized human memory B cells, plasma cells or naïve B cells with unmatched, stable secretion rates. To date, the company has closed four major licensing deals with top pharmaceutical companies generating significant revenues. Two of these partnered programs are currently in clinical development.