KaloBios Collaborates to Engineer Human Antibody Therapeutic Drugs

KaloBios Collaborates to Engineer Human Antibody Therapeutic Drugs

May 31, 2006

Successful Completion of First Humaneering(TM) Program and Commencement of a Broader Agreement

    PALO ALTO, Calif., May 31 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held
biopharmaceutical company, today announced the successful
completion of a project for the Genomics Institute of the
Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) and Novartis to
humaneer(TM) an antibody against an undisclosed target.  In
exchange for creating this engineered human antibody
therapeutic, KaloBios receives research and success fees,
and can receive additional milestones and royalties upon
successful completion of clinical trials.  The companies
also announced the commencement of a second broader
agreement.  Exact terms of either agreement were not
disclosed.  

    Under the first agreement, GNF's high affinity and high
potency non-human antibody drug candidate was humaneered(TM)
by KaloBios.  The humaneered(TM) antibody that KaloBios
delivered met or exceeded all of the GNF- and
Novartis-defined success criteria, triggering a success
payment.

    "We are happy that GNF and Novartis have
identified KaloBios as a partner who can help as part of
their antibody development engine.  In turn, we are
committed to helping GNF and Novartis make the best
possible human antibody therapeutics," said Geoffrey
Yarranton, PhD, CEO of KaloBios.

    Humaneering(TM) is KaloBios Pharmaceutical's
proprietary method for converting non-human antibodies into
engineered human antibodies for therapeutic drug
applications.  The system has the advantage of maintaining
epitope specificity and increasing affinity.  The
humaneered(TM) antibodies are as close as, if not closer to
human germline sequences than the products of fully human
antibody generation techniques.  KaloBios is offering
access to its humaneering(TM) capabilities on a limited
basis.

    About KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

    KaloBios is a therapeutic antibody company using its
proprietary antibody engineering, humaneering and
expression technologies for the development of a pipeline
of antibody therapeutics. Its two most advanced drug
candidates are KB001 and KB002. KB001 will treat
life-threatening Pseudomonas lung infections, a common
problem of Cystic Fibrosis and mechanically ventilated
patients. KB002 is for the treatment of Rheumatoid
Arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. To fully leverage
the value of its technology platform, KaloBios is offering
access to its antibody engineering capabilities via funded
collaborations.  For more information, visit
http://www.kalobios.com . 

    For more information, please contact:

     Geoff Yarranton, CEO
     KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
     Tel:   [phone] x301

SOURCE  KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc