Bioverativ to acquire True North Therapeutics and the Abzena Inside portfolio product, TNT009

Cambridge, UK, 24 May 2017 – Abzena plc (AIM: ABZA, ‘Abzena’ or the ‘Group’), the life sciences group providing services and technologies to enable the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, notes the announcement from Bioverativ Inc. (NASDAQ: BIVV), that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire True North Therapeutics for an upfront payment of $400 million plus assumed cash. True North investors are also eligible to receive additional payments of up to $425 million contingent on the achievement of future development, regulatory and sales milestones.

As part of the acquisition, Bioverativ will obtain worldwide rights to True North Therapeutics’ lead candidate, TNT009, a first-in-class monoclonal antibody in development to treat cold agglutinin disease (CAD).

CAD is a rare and chronic haemolytic condition that often leads to severe anaemia, requiring numerous transfusions, and can result in life-threatening thrombotic events. There are no approved therapies for CAD, which occurs in approximately 16 people per million globally, including an estimated 5,000 people in the United States.

TNT009 was created using Abzena’s Composite Human Antibody technology and falls within the Abzena Inside portfolio of products being developed by Abzena’s partners.