Ablynx has extended the five year research of its global strategic nanobody alliance with Boehringer Ingelheim by two year to discover, develop and commercialise up to 10 different Nanobody therapeutics.

The extension which will run until September 2014, will allow all the existing ten Nanobody programmes to advance to a stage where Boehringer Ingelheim can potentially progress each programme into development. Ablynx will receive a total of €6.6 million in additional research funding from Boehringer Ingelheim, some of which will be in advance. This payment is in return for work carried out by Ablynx's specialist Nanobody scientists. Ablynx has already received over €58 million from payments under the Strategic Alliance since it was signed in 2007.

In September 2007, Ablynx and Boehringer Ingelheim entered into a Strategic Alliance on the discovery, development and commercialisation of Nanobody therapeutics across a range of diseases, including oncology, immunology, and respiratory diseases. The agreement allows for potential milestone payments of up to €125 million plus royalties to Ablynx for each Nanobody which reaches market. Boehringer Ingelheim is exclusively responsible for the development, manufacturing and commercialisation of any products resulting from the collaboration. Ablynx retains certain co-promotion rights in Europe.

Dr Edwin Moses, CEO and chairman of Ablynx, said, “We are delighted to extend the current Strategic Alliance. As a result of this very successful collaboration, there are now two Nanobody programmes already in pre-clinical development and seven Nanobodies at various stages in discovery across multiple disease areas. In addition, as part of a separate collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, there is a Nanobody relevant in Alzheimer’s disease  also at the pre-clinical  development stage. We are very pleased to  have eleven Nanobody programmes potentially able to make an important contribution to Boehringer Ingelheim’s R&D pipeline.”

Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of Nanobodies, a novel class of therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, for a range of serious and life-threatening human diseases, including inflammation, haematology, oncology and pulmonary disease.