Siena, Italy, 7th January 2016. Philogen S.p.A., today announced that Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) has exercised options granted under the agreement established in December 2014 for the potential development and commercialization of multiple antibody drug conjugates (ADCs).

Philogen is a biotechnology company developing targeted therapies with precise specificity in certain diseases characterised by angiogenesis. “We are delighted to confirm that the exploratory phase of the initiative to combine Philogen’s validated antibodies with Pfizer’s extensive chemistry capabilities has transitioned to the licensed phase,” commented Dr. Duccio Neri, Philogen’s CEO. “This agreement with Pfizersupports the industry’s mounting interest in ADCs technologies.”

“This next phase of the agreement with Philogen reflects Pfizer’s commitment to advance ADC technologies and underscores their potential to accelerate the delivery of innovative new medicines for cancer patients,” said Robert Abraham, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Head of Pfizer’s Oncology-Rinat Research & Development Group.

Pfizer now has exclusive rights to pursue development of certain ADCs and targeted technologies and is responsible for research and development and potential commercialization of candidate molecules. Separately, in January 2013 Philogen and Pfizer entered into an exclusive license agreement regarding the 'armed antibody' Dekavil, under which Pfizer is exploring the activity of Dekavil for autoimmune diseases.

About Philogen

Philogen is a clinical-stage biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of novel biopharmaceutical products for the treatment of certain diseases that are characterized by angiogenesis.

Philogen’s strategy is to deliver bioactive agents, for example cytokines, radionuclides or drugs to the site of disease using antibodies and ligands that specifically and efficiently target stromal antigens. Philogen helped pioneer this strategy, and has published extensively in leading scientific journals since 1997 in relation to this therapeutic approach. This technology has generated a strong proprietary pipeline of five Phase I/II drugs and also pre-clinical compounds in an array of cancer and chronic inflammatory indications.

Philogen is headquartered in Siena, Italy, where an EMA-certified GMP production facility accelerates transition of its products to the clinic. Philogen also has substantial research activities at its fully-owned subsidiary company Philochem in Zürich, Switzerland. Philogen is independently owned and managed, generates revenue from a diverse range of activities, and has signed agreements with several major pharmaceutical companies.

Philochem has cutting edge platform expertise, including human antibody technology, target discovery programs and DNA-encoded libraries for the isolation of novel chemical entities. In addition, Philogen focuses on exploiting small molecule and antibody drug conjugates.

For more information please visit www.philogen.co