January 3, 2024
Ampersand Biomedicines Acquires AbCheck to Accelerate Platform and Product Development
Acquisition amplifies Ampersand’s in-house capabilities to generate AND-Body™ Therapeutics - programmed biologics across a broad range of diseases
BOSTON, Mass., January 3, 2024 – Ampersand Biomedicines, a multi-product platform company developing smarter medicines that act specifically at the site of disease and nowhere else, today announced the acquisition of AbCheck s.r.o., a technology company with a suite of antibody discovery technologies for challenging targets and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Affimed GmbH. The addition of AbCheck’s broad discovery platform and deep expertise in antibody generation and optimization will enable cost-effective and strategic acceleration of Ampersand’s Address, Navigate, Determine (AND)™ Platform.
“We’ve made significant advances building our AND Platform, which combines powerful computational tools, robust screening approaches integrated with sophisticated protein engineering, and pharmacological evaluation capabilities to develop therapies that work precisely where needed and nowhere else,” said Jason Gardner, D. Phil., CEO of Ampersand Biomedicines and Flagship Pioneering CEO-Partner. “This acquisition will boost the AND Platform and enhance Ampersand’s ability to generate multiple AND-Body™ Therapeutics in parallel. I look forward to seamlessly integrating AbCheck’s broad antibody discovery capabilities and experienced team as one organization and together building a pipeline of drug candidates that have efficacy, safety, and tolerability for Ampersand and in partnership with companies in the Flagship ecosystem.”
AbCheck is a cutting-edge antibody discovery company with a platform of technologies that have successfully delivered against many targets. Over the last 15 years, AbCheck has validated its platform through more than 45 partnerships with biopharma companies and produced multiple clinical candidates. Through the acquisition, AbCheck will become a wholly-owned and independent unit of Ampersand.
“We’re proud of having built one of the leading antibody discovery and optimization platforms, with a highly successful track record,” commented Volker Lang, Ph.D., Managing Director of AbCheck. “We’re thrilled to join Ampersand and further our potential to discover and optimize novel antibodies against challenging disease targets through AND-body medicines.”
About Ampersand Biomedicines
Ampersand Biomedicines enables a new way of programming medicines that work precisely where needed in the body and nowhere else. The company’s computationally powered Address, Navigate, Determine (AND)™ Platform identifies ideal addresses for drug localization and informs the design of AND-Body™ Therapeutics that have the optimal therapeutic effect. The result is smarter biologic medicines that target the site of disease without affecting healthy tissue or cells. Ampersand Biomedicines was founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2021. For more information, please visit www.ampersand.bio.
About AbCheck
AbCheck discovers and optimizes human therapeutic antibodies with one of the industry’s most versatile technology platforms. Tailored to specific needs and desired Target Product Profiles, AbCheck leverages both cutting-edge (e.g., microfluidics, rabbit mass humanization) and state-of-the-art (e.g., phage/yeast display libraries) technologies to provide high quality leads. The company has proven its capabilities in multiple partnerships throughout the U.S. and Europe. AbCheck is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ampersand Biomedicines, a Flagship Pioneering Company. For more information, please visit https://www.abcheckantibodies.com/.
Media Contact:
Josephine Zorbo
JZorbo@flagshippioneering.com
