Harbour Antibodies Announces First U.S. Patent for Novel Transgenic Mouse Antibody Technology for Next Generation Therapeutic Antibody Discovery

Patent Covering “Heavy Chain Only” Antibody Platform Enables Discovery of Products Not Achievable with Conventional Antibody Platforms

Cambridge, MA, December 19, 2014 – Harbour Antibodies BV, announced the issuance of the first U.S. Patent (No. 8,883,150) covering the company’s HCAb mouse platform for producing human “heavy chain only” antibody molecules. The antibody molecules produced by the technology have broad potential for use by Harbour’s licensees to develop products with attributes not achievable by conventional antibody platforms.

“Our HCAb mouse platform is a powerful technology for generating multiple diverse heavy-chain only antibody molecules with high affinity to biological targets,” stated Frank Grosveld, Ph.D., scientific founder, Chief Scientific Officer and Director of Harbour Antibodies. “Importantly, they are soluble and do not aggregate, allowing use either as simplified alternatives to conventional antibodies or components of more complex antibody products. This is the first of several patent families which will protect our proprietary HCAb mouse platform.”

The patent was issued to Erasmus University Medical Center (The Netherlands), which has exclusively licensed its use to Harbour Antibodies. It is set to expire in March 2030. Equivalent patents have been issued in Russia and South Africa and are pending in Europe, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Korea and Japan. Two additional patent applications covering the HCAb mouse platform have been allowed and are expected to issue within the next few months.
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About HCAb Transgenic Mouse Platform
The heavy-chain only dimeric antibodies lack a light chain. When derived from the HCAb mice, they are easily manipulated into making bi-specifics, Antibody Drug Conjugates or VH domain-derived diagnostic or therapeutic molecules. The molecules produced by the HCAb mice are soluble, secreted by cells and have affinities, diversity and physicochemical properties similar to traditional antibody molecules. For additional information on the HCAb mice please visit http://www.harbourantibodies.com.

About Harbour Antibodies
Harbour Antibodies is a privately held company with an R&D team in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and a management team based in Cambridge, MA USA. Harbour offers for license two strains of transgenic mice that can be used to generate human therapeutic antibodies: (1) a traditional tetrameric antibody (H2L2) with two heavy chains and two light chains and (2) the HCAb strain lacking a light chain, described above. For additional information on the Harbour Antibodies platform discovery technology or partnering strategies please visit http://www.harbourantibodies.com.