Invenra Enters Collaboration Agreement With Merck & Co. To Identify Therapeutic Antibodies Against Challenging Target

MADISON, Wis., July 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Invenra today announced a collaboration with Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, to discover fully human therapeutic antibodies against an unnamed target of interest to Merck.  Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

"We are excited to be working with this first rate team in Merck," said Dr. Roland Green, CEO of Invenra.  "Invenra's ability to test antibodies for a functional phenotype early in the screening process combined with Merck's established role as a leader in this field will advance the science regarding difficult to address targets.  This collaboration marks a significant milestone for Invenra in its mission to advance the field of antibody discovery through its ultra-high throughput mAbSeq technology."

About mAbSeq and B-Body Technologies 
Invenra's proprietary platform is based on ultra-high throughput technology allowing function forward screening of full-length antibodies using Invenra's mAbSeq technology, where antibodies can be directly and quickly interrogated in a multi-plexed fashion with a diverse set of immunotypic and biologically relevant assays.  The Invenra technology allows rapid identification of high affinity mAbs with broad epitope coverage while simultaneously performing direct phenotypic screening to isolate those mAbs with the most relevant biological activity.  B-Body is a novel bispecific format that can also be screened in large numbers using mAbSeq for bispecific combinations with desired phenotypic characteristics. 

About Invenra, Inc.

Invenra, Inc., is an antibody discovery and development company focused on bispecific antibodies for immuno-oncology.  The bispecifics are being developed with Invenra's B-Body technology, which uses a novel bispecific format.  Hundreds of B-Body bispecifics can be assessed daily with high-throughput screening.  Invenra has developed its own pipeline of bispecifics and has several strategic alliances in which antibody drug developers use Invenra's high-throughput screening technologies to identify molecules with biological relevance. 

The competitive nature and blockbuster potential of antibody therapeutics development for immuno-oncology makes speed to market critical. Yet often time is wasted on developing antibodies that turn out to be of no use, have poor drug characteristics or that cannot be efficiently manufactured.  Invenra's mAbSeq high-throughput screening technology and B-Body bispecific format enable simultaneous assessment of antibody binding and function in cell-based assays.

Invenra is based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Company Contact

Dr. Roland Green
CEO
Invenra, Inc.
+1 (608) 441-8178
rgreen@invenra.com

HEADQUARTERS
505 S Rosa Rd, Ste 235
Madison, WI 53719

Media Contacts

David Schull
Russo Partners
+1 (212) 845-4271
david.schull@russopartnersllc.com

Amiad Finkelthal
Russo Partners
+1 (646) 942-5626
amiad.finkelthal@russopartnersllc.com

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SOURCE Invenra, Inc.

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