GHENT, Belgium – Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX], a pioneer in the discovery and development of Nanobodies®, a novel class of antibody-derived therapeutic proteins, announced today that it has received an undisclosed milestone payment from Novartis for an exclusive research license in one of the programmes that is a component of their ongoing Research and Development alliance.

Novartis and Ablynx are collaborating to discover and develop therapeutic Nanobodies® for a range of disease areas, against a number of targets that are difficult to address with conventional antibodies and their fragments.

The alliance was entered into in December 2005, and extended in December 2007 for a further year. Under the terms of this ongoing agreement, Ablynx receives upfront fees, license fees and funding for research and development. In addition, Ablynx will be eligible for milestone payments and royalties upon commercialisation. Novartis has exclusive rights to develop and commercialise the Nanobody® products resulting from the collaboration. Financial terms are not disclosed.

Edwin Moses, CEO and Chairman of Ablynx, commented:

“We are pleased to see this first Nanobody® programme from our collaboration with Novartis advancing to the next stage and to make progress in what is an important alliance for Ablynx.”

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For more information, please contact:

College Hill Life Sciences – for UK/International media enquiries:
Sue Charles, Justine Lamond, Holly Griffiths
t: +44 (0)20 7457 2020
f: +44 (0)20 7866 7900
e: ablynx@collegehill.com

Ablynx:
Dr. Edwin Moses
Chairman and CEO 
t: +32 (0)9 262 00 07
m: +44 (0)7771 954 193 / +32 (0)473 39 50 68
e: edwin.moses@ablynx.com

Eva-Lotta Allan
Chief Business Officer
t: +32 (0)9 262 00 75
m: +32 (0)475 78 36 21 / +44 (0)7990 570 900
e: eva-lotta.allan@ablynx.com