Medarex and Organon Announce Antibody Development Agreement

Medarex, Inc. and Organon, the human health care business unit of Akzo Nobel, have announced an agreement for the development of therapeutic antibodies.

Organon intends to use Medarex's UltiMAb Human Antibody Development System^®, which allows for the discovery of fully human antibodies in mice, to generate therapeutic antibodies against a variety of disease targets discovered by Organon and/or its alliance partners in discovery research.

Under the terms of the agreement, Organon plans to develop and commercialize fully human antibody therapeutics.

Medarex expects to receive license fees and milestone payments as well as royalties on commercial sales of any products that may result from this agreement.

"We are pleased that Organon plans to combine their product development experience with our UltiMAb technology to develop novel therapeutics," said Donald L. Drakeman, President and CEO of Medarex.

Dr. David Nicholson, Executive Vice President Global Research and Development of Organon International Inc., stated that, "We believe that Medarex's UltiMAb system is a valuable addition to the proprietary technology of Organon for the generation of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies."

"These technologies complement each other and are instrumental in supporting the Organon strategy to build a portfolio of commercially attractive biotech products."