AVEO Pharmaceuticals to Utilize Peptech’s Breakthrough Technology to “Humanise” Internal Drug CandidatesAVEO Pharmaceuticals to Utilize Peptech’s Breakthrough Technology to “Humanise” Internal Drug Candidates October 2, 2007, Sydney, Australia and Cambridge, MA – Peptech Limited (ASX: PTD) and AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced they have entered into a non-exclusive research and commercialisation agreement in which AVEO will access Peptech’s SuperhumanisationTM technology to humanise internally-derived drug candidates. The Superhumanisation™ technology allows for modifying antibodies generated in animals so that they retain their essential therapeutic properties but appear “human-like” or “humanised” and will therefore not be rejected by the immune system of patients receiving them. Antibodies are the fastest growing class of drugs, with major product successes driving a continued high level of interest in this sector from the pharmaceutical industry worldwide. Under the terms of the agreement, AVEO will provide Peptech an upfront payment for access to Peptech’s intellectual property and know-how surrounding the Peptech’s SuperhumanisationTM methodology for humanising antibodies. AVEO will utilise the technology in-house and will be responsible for future clinical development and commercialisation of any products made using the technology. Peptech will receive annual license fees and payments upon successful achievement of preclinical and clinical milestones as well as royalties on sales of any products resulting from the collaboration. Additional financial terms were not disclosed. This is the first commercial deal Peptech (through its wholly-owned subsidiary, EvoGenix) has signed for its SuperhumanisationTM technology which it obtained through its merger with EvoGenix in August this year, with negotiations on the deal starting prior to the merger. EvoGenix has ongoing platform technology partnerships with GlaxoSmithKline, CSL Limited and Vegenics Limited. “AVEO Pharmaceuticals is an exciting company with a growing pipeline of innovative cancer products. We are delighted to be working with them to a common goal of advancing better therapeutic products to market,” said John Chiplin, CEO of Peptech. “The fact that AVEO has chosen to license our SuperhumanisationTM technology, a proprietary offering that is fast becoming the benchmark for humanisation undertakings further validates our approach to creating a globally competitive antibody engineering platform.” Tuan Ha-Ngoc, AVEO’s President and CEO, stated, “Licensing this technology from Peptech augments our internal discovery capabilities and further illustrates AVEO’s commitment to maximising our antibody drug discovery and development platform. We will continue to identify technology opportunities to drive our portfolio of internally discovered drug candidates while leveraging our proprietary in vivo cancer models to direct the clinical development and ultimately realise the commercial potential of both our internally discovered and in-licensed pipeline of cancer drugs.” Through its acquisition of EvoGenix, Peptech offers a novel proprietary technology platform to facilitate the development of antibodies and other protein therapeutics of high potency and suitable for long term administration to patients. The technology operates in two stages: Peptech Media and Investor Relations: AVEO Pharmaceuticals:
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