Abbott Laboratories Licenses Protein Design Labs' Intellectual Property for Antibodies Binding to Interleukin-12 (IL-12) and the IL-12 Receptor
Tuesday December 23, 4:00 pm ET
ABBOTT PARK, Ill. and FREMONT, Calif., Dec. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT - News) and Protein Design Labs, Inc. (PDL) (Nasdaq: PDLI - News) today announced that the companies have entered into a licensing agreement that provides Abbott certain exclusive rights to intellectual property related to antibodies capable of binding Interleukin-12 (IL-12) or its receptor. The licensed rights are not related to PDL's humanization technology. IL-12 is a cytokine with potential as a target in the treatment of a number of autoimmune diseases.
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Alejandro Aruffo, Ph.D., Divisional Vice President of Immunoscience Discovery and Development, Abbott Laboratories, and President, Abbott BioResearch Center said, "We are pleased to partner with PDL. This partnership advances Abbott's commitment to develop innovative medicines to treat autoimmune diseases in areas of significant unmet need."
PDL has received an upfront licensing fee, and may receive development milestone payments and royalties on future sales of antibodies developed by Abbott against IL-12. Additional terms were not disclosed. PDL initially licensed certain intellectual property related to anti-IL-12 therapy from Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Roche) and will share with Roche a portion of all amounts received.
Mark McDade, Chief Executive Officer, PDL, said, "We are pleased to complete an agreement in support of Abbott Laboratories' work to develop innovative antibody-based therapeutics that target IL-12. We look forward to Abbott's continued development successes."
Abbott currently is developing ABT-874 (formerly J695), a fully human monoclonal antibody capable of binding to IL-12, in Phase II clinical trials.
About Protein Design Labs
Protein Design Labs is a leader in the development of humanized antibodies to prevent or treat various disease conditions. PDL currently has antibodies under development for autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, asthma and cancer. PDL holds fundamental patents for its antibody humanization technology. Further information on PDL is available at www.pdl.com.
About Abbott Laboratories
Abbott Laboratories offers partners an unparalleled set of capabilities to optimize the value of antibody targets and compounds. These include Abbott's unique technology platform comprising both proprietary and licensed technologies, a ten-year track record pioneering the discovery and development of fully human antibody therapeutics, and a state-of-the-art facilities for the manufacture of clinical scale and commercial scale protein therapeutics.
Abbott Laboratories is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals, nutritionals, and medical products, including devices and diagnostics. The company employs more than 70,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.
The foregoing contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including whether or not Abbott may successfully develop antibodies under PDL's intellectual property and whether PDL will receive milestones and royalties based upon those development efforts by Abbott. Factors that may cause such differences are discussed in PDL's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002, in its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2003, and in other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, there can be no assurance that the anticipated clinical development milestones will be achieved or that clinical trials will demonstrate antibodies directed against Interleukin-12 to be safe and effective.
NOTE: Protein Design Labs and Humanizing Science are registered U.S. trademarks and the PDL logo is a trademark of Protein Design Labs, Inc. |
