Abilita Bio Announces Business Growth and Key Developments

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Abilita Bio, Inc., an innovation-driven biotechnology company focused on enabling discovery and development of drugs targeting challenging membrane proteins, today announced a series of corporate updates that includes an expansion of scientific scope, personnel, and infrastructure.

In 2019 Abilita executed three research collaborations with leading biotech companies, including a deal signed with Amgen in February. The latest collaboration, a multi-target deal inked in November with a leading public biotech company, is focused on using EMP™ technology to enable therapeutic antibody discovery for challenging targets and includes research funding, as well as milestone payments tied to drug development and commercialization. In order to accommodate rapid business growth, the company’s operations have moved from the JLABS incubator within the Johnson & Johnson San Diego facilities, to a 2,500 sqft private laboratory space located within the San Diego biotech cluster.

The resource and infrastructure improvements will support the strategic expansion of Abilita Bio’s business model from a target-centered research collaboration model, to the discovery and early development of proprietary assets targeting intractable membrane proteins in therapeutic areas with profound unmet medical need.

To accelerate discovery efforts, the company has in-licensed a number of different biologic agent libraries from UK-based Cyclogenix Ltd., and hired its scientific founder, Duncan McGregor, to lead implementation of the technology. Dr. McGregor has a proven track record of innovation, with more than 20 years of biologics discovery experience in display technologies and antibody engineering, including the invention of the CIS-display technology at Isogenica Ltd (UK).

"This is a landmark period for Abilita Bio” commented Dr. Mauro Mileni, CEO. “We are in a unique position to exploit the synergy between our EMP™ platform and different biologics discovery technologies. The added depth will position us to lead in the field in discovering and developing novel drugs that target tough membrane proteins such as GPCRs and ion channels.”

In another development, Abilita initiated its newest discovery program in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in September 2019, with the award of the company’s third SBIR Phase I Grant from the NIH. This research effort, funded by the National Institute on Aging, will explore a new approach to treating AD by stimulating natural myelin repair mechanisms to reverse white matter damage in the brain.

About Abilita Bio, Inc.
Abilita Bio, Inc. was founded in 2014, and is an innovation-driven biotechnology company focused on leveraging its EMP™ platform and deep membrane protein expertise to enable drug discovery and development. The company has established multiple research collaborations with global pharma and biotech partners and is building an internal portfolio of preclinical assets around high-value targets.

Media Contacts: Abilita Bio, Inc.
Mauro Mileni, CEO, [email protected], (858) 246 - 6778

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