ImaginAb signs multi-party collaboration agreement with three global pharmaceutical companies to help further develop company's CD8 ImmunoPET technology

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ImaginAb, Inc., a leading clinical-stage immuno-oncology imaging company, today announced the signing of a multi-party collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/NYSE: AZN), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) focused on furthering the clinical development of ImaginAb's CD8 ImmunoPET technology. Using its 'Minibody' platform, ImaginAb's technology targets and visualizes CD8+ T cells to provide highly-specific, quantitative assessment of the immunological status of each cancer lesion within a patient, potentially enabling treatment to be tailored quickly and specifically to the needs of that patient.

Under the terms of the agreement, the collaborators will help guide a current ImaginAb-sponsored clinical trial that aims to evaluate the utility and value of CD8 ImmunoPET in immuno-oncology drug development. In return, the collaborators will gain early access to clinical and imaging data and collectively contribute to the post-trial data analysis.  

Commenting on the agreement, Ian Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of ImaginAb, said: "One of our key objectives is to streamline the clinical development of next-generation cancer immunotherapies so that ultimately cancer patients have access to the best possible treatments. We believe that working with global leaders in immuno-oncology will help us further develop CD8 ImmunoPET as a pharmacodynamic marker for use in drug development and, in the future, as a diagnostic and predictive test for use in hospitals."

Chris Arendt, Head of the Oncology Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda, said: "We are excited to participate in this pre-competitive alliance, which brings together a rich network of expertise and resources to develop and evaluate an imaging tracer for CD8+ T cells. The ability to track, both spatially and temporally, immune responses associated with novel immuno-oncology therapies and relate these to anti-tumor responses in patients has the potential to deepen our understanding of the cancer immunity cycle and how it can be leveraged for curative intent, which is the primary focus of our oncology research efforts at Takeda."

For further information please contact:

ImaginAb
Ian Wilson
Email: [email protected] 
Phone: +1 310 645 1211

Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur
Email: [email protected] 
Phone: +44 20 3950 9144

About ImaginAb

ImaginAb, Inc. is an immuno-oncology imaging company focused on providing actionable insight into patient selection and treatment progress for cancer immunotherapy, enabling precision medicine. ImaginAb engineers antibody fragments called minibodies that maintain the exquisite specificity of full-length antibodies while remaining biologically inert in the body. Used with widely available PET scan technology, these novel minibodies illuminate high-value molecular targets, providing physicians with a whole-body picture of immune activity. ImaginAb is advancing a pipeline of minibodies against oncology and immunology targets, including the CD8 ImmunoPET targeting CD8 T cells. ImaginAb's products have the potential to improve patient care and lower healthcare costs. The Company is backed by top tier venture capital firms and strategic corporate firms, including The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Nextech Invest, Adage Capital, The Cycad Group, Merck (MSD) Pharma, Novartis Bioventures and Jim Pallotta of the Raptor Group.

For more information about ImaginAb's pipeline and technology, visit www.imaginab.com.

About CD8 ImmunoPET

CD8 ImmunoPET minibody [89Zr-Df-IAB22M2C] binds CD8 receptor on human T cells and is used for non-invasive PET imaging of CD8 T cells in patients. The Phase 1 dose-escalation study conducted with cancer patients receiving immunotherapy treatments has demonstrated safety, established the effective dose and the optimal PET imaging protocol as well as demonstrated proof of concept for using CD8 ImmunoPET as a clinical tool for the detection and imaging CD8 T cells in patients. Additional studies including ImaginAb's Phase 2 study and studies sponsored by ImaginAb's corporate partners are further establishing the repeat dosing and the utility of CD8 ImmunoPET as pharmacodynamic and predictive marker for immunotherapy.

SOURCE ImaginAb, Inc.