Biocytogen Enters into Antibody Agreement with Merck

BEIJING, April 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (Biocytogen) announced that it has entered into an evaluation and option agreement with Merck to grant them a sole license to evaluate Biocytogen's proprietary antibodies against at least three distinct targets with an option to acquire some of the assets at a later date for therapeutic product development for all uses worldwide.

Under the agreement, Biocytogen will provide Merck antibodies directed against at least three targets specified by them from Biocytogen's Project Integrum (also called HiTS Platform), which are generated by leveraging Biocytogen's proprietary RenMice^TM Platform. Merck will carry out feasibility tests and be responsible for further development and commercialization of the products if exercising an option. Additional targets subject to mutual discretion may be included under this agreement.

Dr. Yuelei Shen, President and CEO of Biocytogen, said: "Thanks to Merck's recognition of our proprietary platform and antibody discovery capabilities, we believe that differentiated candidates generated from our innovative models and discovery platform can quickly advance novel antibody-based therapeutics. Our RenMice^TM-based Project Integrum aims to discover antibodies against more than 1,000 targets. We welcome collaboration with partners worldwide to realize the full potential of this platform."

About Biocytogen

Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. is a global biotech company that drives the research and development of new drugs with innovative technologies. The company is committed to becoming a global headstream of new drugs to bring benefits to patients worldwide. Based on the fully human antibody RenMab^TM and RenLite^TM mice for fully human antibody production with robust humoral responses, highly diverse antibody repertoires and superior affinity, Biocytogen has integrated its platforms in monoclonal and bispecific antibody development platforms, in vivo drug efficacy screening platforms and strong clinical development ability to streamline the entire drug development process. Biocytogen has launched Project Integrum, the world's first large-scale antibody discovery screening program adopting an evidence-based in vivo efficacy screening methodology to concurrently generate and screen antibodies against over 1,000 potential druggable targets, most of which have not been explored in clinical trials yet. With the implementation of Project Integrum, Biocytogen has entered ongoing collaborations with dozens of partners worldwide to produce many first-in-class and/or best-in-class antibody drugs. Biocytogen's pipeline includes 12 core products among which 2 products are in phase II multi-regional clinical trials (MRCTs) and 2 products are in phase I. Headquartered in Beijing, Biocytogen has branches in Haimen Jiangsu, Shanghai, Boston, USA and Heidelberg, Germany.

About Merck

Merck, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and electronics. Around 60,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2021, Merck generated sales of € 19.7 billion in 66 countries.

Scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to Merck's technological and scientific advances. This is how Merck has thrived since its founding in 1668. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. Merck holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Electronics.