Spirogen Ltd. Announces a Research Collaboration and License Agreement With Genentech for the Discovery and Development of Antibody Drug Conjugates

By Spirogen Ltd, PRNE
Wednesday, January 5, 2011

LONDON, January 6, 2011 - Spirogen Ltd. ("Spirogen") a leading oncology-focused company developing
DNA sequence targeted agents, announced a multi-year research collaboration
and license agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (SIX: RO,
ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY).

The two companies will collaborate on the discovery and development of
antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) as potential anticancer agents, using
Spirogen's proprietary PBD drugs and associated linker technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Spirogen will be primarily responsible
for synthesizing and manufacturing drug reagents, while Genentech will use
Spirogen's drug reagents to generate ADCs and evaluate their potential
therapeutic utility. Genentech will have the exclusive license to fully
develop and commercialize licensed products that contain these ADCs.

Terms of the multi-year collaboration include an initial one-off license
fee, development milestones on reaching pre-defined targets and further
milestones and royalties for licensed products.

"We are hopeful that this collaboration with Genentech will allow us to
accelerate the development of ADCs based on our potent PBD drugs with one of
the leading companies in the ADC field," said Christopher Martin, CEO of
Spirogen.

"We are pleased to enter into this collaboration with Spirogen," said
James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of Genentech Partnering. "We believe
ADCs have the potential to meaningfully impact the treatment of cancer.
Genentech is committed to exploring the biology and clinical potential of
ADCs in a variety of tumor types."

ABOUT SPIROGEN LIMITED

Spirogen is a privately-owned UK company, founded in 2001 by Professor
David Thurston (now at the School of Pharmacy, University of London), Dr.
Phillip Howard, Professor John Hartley (University College London) and Dr.
Chris Martin. The company is pioneering the discovery and development of a
unique class of low molecular weight sequence-specific DNA-interactive drugs
designed to treat gene-mediated diseases. Spirogen's proprietary
chemistry-based platform technology, based on the modification of members of
a group of natural antibiotics called pyrrolobenzodiazepines (PBDs), forms
the basis of a research effort that began over a decade ago to develop novel
therapeutics with potential application in a number of markets. Spirogen's
website is www.spirogen.com.

    ENQUIRIES

    Spirogen Limited
    Dr. Christopher Martin
    Chief Executive Officer
    +44(0)7788-72-05-72
    Chris.Martin@Spirogen.com

    U.K. Media Relations
    John Dineen
    Financial Dynamics
    +44(0)207-269-7193
    John.dineen@fd.com

ENQUIRIES: Spirogen Limited, Dr. Christopher Martin, Chief Executive Officer, +44(0)7788-72-05-72, Chris.Martin at Spirogen.com; U.K. Media Relations, John Dineen, Financial Dynamics, +44(0)207-269-7193, John.dineen at fd.com

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