• September 12-14, 2012: Join us for BioKorea 2012, in Seoul, Korea at the Korea International Exhibition Center (Kintex). Be sure to check out our panel “Global Outsourcing Strategy for Biotherapeutics”!

• October 8-12, 2012: Join us for BioProcess International Conference and Exhibition 2012, in Providence, RI at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Don’t miss the “Early Phase Development Services” panel featuring BioAtla, Boehringer Ingelheim, Rentschler and DSM.

- • Check back for periodic event listing updates.

Femta Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a clinical development program for FM101, a high-affinity, humanized monoclonal antibody against Interleukin-6 (IL-6), in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

FM101 is part of a novel class of immune modulators that inhibit the action of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6.  IL-6 has been shown to be a major player in the etiology of a number of inflammatory diseases. Pre-clinical studies have shown that FM101 is effective in inhibiting IL-6 both in vivo and in vitro.  GLP toxicology studies have shown FM101 to be safe and well tolerated at doses at least as high as 100mg/kg.

The proposed Phase I study entitled “A Multicenter, Randomized, Double‑Blind, Placebo Controlled, Phase 1 Safety and Preliminary Efficacy Study of FM101 in Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis despite Methotrexate Therapy” is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of increasing and multiple doses of the FM101 in patients with moderate to severe RA.

RA is a progressive and debilitating disease of unknown etiology that results in destruction of the synovial joints and has a worldwide distribution with an estimated prevalence of 1 to 2%.  Prevalence increases with age, approaching 5% in women over 55 years. The average annual incidence in the United States (US) is about 70 per 100,000 annually for a total of 1.3 million Americans ≥18 years of age. Both incidence and prevalence of RA are two to three times greater in women than in men and about 80% of patients develop RA between ages 30 and 60. The cost of RA in the US is approximately $128 billion per year in medical care and lost wages and productivity. In addition to the high economic cost, RA also accounts for 22% of all deaths from arthritis, and people with RA are more likely to die than persons of the same age in the general population.

About FM101

FM101 is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody directed against a neutralizing epitope on human IL‑6. IL‑6 is a pro-inflammatory molecule that is found in the joints of RA patients and contributes to the pain, joint destruction and chronic inflammation commonly seen in this population. Pre-clinical studies have shown that FM101 is effective in inhibiting IL-6 in a number of in vitro and in vivo models.

About Femta

Femta Pharmaceuticals is focused on the rapid and cost effective development of highly effective and competitive therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of various disease states. Our monoclonal antibodies have applications in the areas of inflammation, autoimmune disease and oncology. Femta develops high affinity, high specificity monoclonal antibodies with improved effector functions as well as favorable safety and pharmacokinetic profiles. The high affinity of our antibodies will contribute to making our products more efficacious with better safety profiles, as well as potentially reducing drug dosage. Femta’s product candidates and programs are protected by the company’s extensive global intellectual property portfolio. More information about Femta can be found at www.femtapharma.com.

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Download the Femta IND News PDF

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SAN DIEGO, Calif. Charles River and BioAtla have recently partnered to create an integrated biological service for antibodies and other protein therapeutics designed to accelerate drug development for customers from the earliest stages of discovery all the way through IND.

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This new partnership combines world-class toxicology services with proprietary, state-of-the-art biological engineering capabilities and represents a significant milestone toward establishing one of the first fully integrated biological services partnership for antibodies and other protein therapeutics. In addition, the international reach of these preferred contract research organizations brings much needed cost-effective integrated services for pharmaceutical development.

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About Charles River
Charles River, headquartered in Wilmington, MA, provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and leading academic institutions around the globe accelerate their research and drug development efforts. Its approximately 8,000 employees worldwide are focused on providing clients with exactly what they need to improve and expedite the discovery, development through first-in-human evaluation, and safe manufacture of new therapies for the patients who need them. For more information, visit www.criver.com.

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About BioAtla
BioAtla, LLC, is a global biology outsourcing services provider based in San Diego, CA, with research operations in San Diego, New York and Beijing. BioAtla provides an extensive range of protein therapeutic services that include target discovery, humanization, fully human antibody generation, affinity maturation, conditional biologic generation, expression optimization, enzyme engineering, pathway engineering, epitope mapping and more. They are a pioneer in BioAcceleration™, using a global infrastructure to deliver cost-efficient access to state-of-the-art technologies and services and maximizing antibody and other protein product development opportunities for their client partners.

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For more information, please visit www.bioatla.com or contact

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Carolyn Anderson
Executive Vice President
BioAtla, LLC
10190 Telesis Court
San Diego, CA 92121
858-558-0708 ext. 0
info@bioatla.com

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SOURCE BioAtla, LLC / Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.

BioAtla’s Antibody Brochure
BioAtla’s Protein Evolution Brochure

Educational Topics:
Antibody Isotypes
Antibody Nomenclature
Antibody Structure
Clinical Process
Scientific Glossary

BioAtla Services:
Affinity Maturation
CIAO!™
Class Switch™
Express Humanization™
Follow-On Biologics: Biosimilars
Follow-on Biologics: Biobetters
GigaMab™ Fully Human Library
MIRAC™ Proteins
Multisite Protein Evolution™
Native Target Discovery™
Preclinical

• March 14-16, 2011: Join us for BIO-Europe Spring 2011, in Milan, Italy at the Milano Convention Center.

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• Check back for periodic event listing updates.

SAN DIEGO, Calif., November 8, 2010. BioAtla, LLC, a San Diego-based protein therapeutics services provider, wants drug discovery companies worldwide to know one thing about operating in today’s business climate – there is hope. While biotechnology companies tackle the traditional complexities of scientific discovery, they must also navigate amidst increasing business pressures fueled by rising costs and scarce funding. That’s where BioAtla thrives.

BioAtla helps biotechnology companies propel drug development forward by bringing a pioneering spirit that welcomes unique collaborations, backed by an expanding global infrastructure. Their business philosophy is simple: empower biotech firms with the scientific expertise they need, at a cost they can afford. How BioAtla achieves this is part art, and definitely part science.

“We offer leading-edge, comprehensive protein engineering services performed in China, which gives our clients cost-efficient access to technologies that would otherwise be unaffordable,” says Dr. Jay M. Short, Founder, Chairman and CEO of BioAtla. “Our corporate policy is to assign 100% ownership of products resulting from BioAtla services to our customers. And our technologies are proprietary, strengthening our clients’ intellectual property portfolios along the way. We help your organization create it, make it and own it.”

Dr. Short is no stranger to innovation. He’s the Founder and former CEO, President and CTO of Diversa Corporation (now British Petroleum and Verenium), where he achieved the largest biotech IPO at the time. He also served as President of Stratacyte, and VP of R&D and Operations for Stratagene Cloning Systems (now Agilent). With BioAtla, Dr. Short continues to push the envelope of innovative and proprietary technologies in the field of protein therapeutics. BioAtla’s CIAO!™ (Comprehensive Integrated Antibody Optimization™) technology platform for protein expression can select molecules in a manner that mirrors both the body’s environment and the host that will be used for final manufacturing of the drug – reducing downstream drug risk from early in the discovery process. And the company is pioneering “Only at BioAtla” services such as its recently launched Native Target Discovery™ platform.

While the company is garnering attention for its comprehensive scientific expertise, BioAtla is also making business collaborations that accelerate drug development a real art form. “Financial collaborations are rapidly replacing traditional drug discovery business models that simply are not longer financially sustainable. We’re not only willing, but highly interested in establishing a financial partnership to accelerate your company’s success,” says Dr. Short. One such collaboration is the partnership between BioAtla and Femta Pharmaceuticals; the two companies share a technology platform with BioAtla fulfilling the role of a services company while Femta seeks to develop therapeutic candidates.

Recently, BioAtla has taken their unique business approach to the web. Their newly branded website (http://www.bioatla.com) is organized to educate the user not only about the services the company is offering, but where the industry is headed. There is hope for a better drug discovery process. BioAtla calls it BioAcceleration™ and they are proving it works. The website was custom created for BioAtla by San Diego-based brand communication firm, Miriello Grafico. Some unique features of the site include a section about global collaboration, illustrating how the company works with their internationally located facilities to ensure quality and transparency, as well as an educational appendix section. In celebration of the website launch, BioAtla is offering visitors the opportunity to register-to-win a free 3G iPad with pre-loaded apps valued at $100. The contest runs through November 30, 2010.

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About BioAtla, LLC

BioAtla, LLC is a global, biology outsourcing services provider based in San Diego, CA with research operations in San Diego, New York, Beijing and expanding in 2011. They are a pioneer in BioAcceleration™ – using a global infrastructure to deliver cost-efficient access to state-of-the art technologies and services, maximizing antibody and other protein product development opportunities for their client partners. BioAtla translates industry know-how and thought leadership into tangible results for their clients.

For more information, please visit www.bioatla.com or contact

Carolyn Anderson
Executive Vice President
BioAtla, LLC
10190 Telesis Court
San Diego, CA 92121
858-558-0708 ext. 0
info@bioatla.com

SOURCE BioAtla, LLC

SAN DIEGO, Calif., October 7, 2010. BioAtla, LLC, announced a new Fully Human Antibody Platform with full-length antibodies and over 10^{^9} members expressed in mammalian cells. This proprietary, expanded and validated high diversity HuAb library is immediately available to BioAtla’s client partners.

The platform maintains the same screening timeframes of traditional methods while capitalizing on one of the most proven and safe glycosylating systems, reducing the potential for negative immunogenicity.

For more information, visit our GigaMab™ Fully Human Library informational page.

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About BioAtla, LLC.

BioAtla, LLC is a global, biology outsourcing services provider based in San Diego, CA with significant research operations in San Diego, New York, Beijing and expanding in 2011. We are a pioneer in BioAcceleration™ – using a global infrastructure to deliver cost-efficient access to state-of-the art technologies and services, maximizing antibody and other protein product development opportunities for our client partners.

Our exclusive manufacturing partnership with China-based BioDuro, a PPD company, and our intellectual property partnership with Capia IP translates our industry know-how and thought leadership into tangible, ownable results for our clients.

For more information, please visit www.bioatla.com or contact:

Carolyn Anderson, Executive Vice President
BioAtla, LLC
858-558-0708 ext. 0
info@bioatla.com

SOURCE BioAtla, LLC

– Molecular Response launches west coast operations –

San Diego, CA, July 6, 2010 – Molecular Response, a privately held contract research and development organization and a leader in identification of target populations for personalized medicine and drug development partners, today announced the opening of new facilities at 10865 Road to the Cure, in San Diego, California.

“We are very bullish on the launch of our operations in the heart of San Diego’s biotechnology center, one of the key centers of excellence for innovative ideas and technology in the areas of research, diagnostics, and therapeutics” said Chairman and CEO, Dr. Masood Tayebi. “We have built a world class facility to both provide clinical trial support services to our biopharmaceutical partners and to advance the growing market for targeted therapeutics and personalized medicine, through strategic collaborations with centers of innovation here in San Diego.”

About Molecular Response

Molecular Response is a leader in advancing targeted therapeutics through intelligently designed, clinically validated companion diagnostics. Our goal is to reduce risk and cost of therapeutic drug development for our partners by translating clinically relevant molecular response marker data into high-value knowledge while fully integrated into existing pharmaceutical development processes and programs; Our results reduce risk and cost of drug development and allow for the most informed decisions with best chance of success to advance therapeutic programs.

For additional information, please visit www.molecularresponse.com

An article appearing in the August 27, 2010 edition of BioWorld Today by Catherine Shaffer calls attention to the unique business partnership and shared technology platform between BioAtla (service provider) and Femta Pharmaceuticals (therapeutics discovery).

The article also refers to BioAtla as a contender for providing “best-in-class” antibodies via usage of rabbit physiology.

Read the entire article (Apexigen Exploits Unique Rabbit Physiology to Make Antibodies) by downloading the PDF.