Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Cambridge, MA, and Shanghai, China

June 13^th, 2019

 
Harbour BioMed (HBM) and Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam announced today that they have signed a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enable a broad range of joint basic, translational and clinical research activities aimed at developing next-generation biotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer and immunological diseases.  The MoU was signed during the official 40th-anniversary celebration ceremony of the Shanghai-Rotterdam Sister City Relationship.

Under the MoU, HBM expects to expand laboratory space in Rotterdam to facilitate scientific collaborations with Erasmus MC investigators across multiple departments. In addition, HBM plans to run its Phase I and II clinical trials at Erasmus MC, which will also serve as the base for larger clinical trials across Europe of its growing therapeutic portfolio.  

“This MoU will advance the company’s vision of growing its footprint in Europe and provide a foundation for strengthening our scientific and business collaborations with Erasmus MC,” said Dr. Jingsong Wang, Founder, Chairman and CEO of HBM. “Working under the broader umbrella of the MoU will allow a broad range of collaborations between our two organizations to discover breakthrough therapies that can be rapidly developed and tested in clinical trials.”

Professor Ernst J. Kuipers, CEO of Erasmus MC stated, “This expanded partnership, which builds on the strong, longstanding relationship we have established with HBM, provides a framework for discovering and advancing innovative drugs into clinical trials to address unmet needs of patients with cancer and immunological diseases. Such collaborations between industry and academic institutions like Erasmus MC provide an important avenue for scientists and clinicians to advance basic and clinical science.”

The Mayor of Rotterdam, Mr. Ahmed Aboutaleb, also commented in support of the MoU and underlying collaboration, “The collaboration between Harbour BioMed and Erasmus MC offers diverse opportunities for the city of Rotterdam as well as for Shanghai: employability, knowledge and a chance of realizing better treatments of certain types of cancers and immune-mediated diseases.” 

Harbour BioMed has collaborated with Erasmus MC since its inception in 2016 when the company acquired Harbour Antibodies, an Erasmus MC spin-out commercializing two transgenic mouse platforms for producing fully human antibodies. Since that time, HBM and Erasmus MC have worked closely apply these powerful platform technologies for the discovery of novel therapeutics.

About Erasmus MC

Erasmus MC is the largest University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Our primary goal is a healthy population. Nearly 14,000 employees devote themselves every day to providing outstanding care, facilitating world-class education and conducting pioneering research. These professionals are instrumental in developing expertise on health and illness. They link the latest scientific insights to practical treatments and prevention measures to provide maximum benefit to patients and to enable healthy people to stay healthy longer. Being visibly better and leading the way in the areas of complex, innovative and acute care by collaborating with others: these are key ambitions at Erasmus MC.

For more information, visit www.erasmusmc.nl/fmb.

About Harbour BioMed

 
Harbour BioMed (HKEX: 02142) is a global biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel antibody therapeutics focusing on oncology and immunology. The Company is building its robust portfolio and differentiated pipeline through internal R&D capability, collaborations with co-discovery and co-development partners and select acquisitions.

 
The Company’s proprietary antibody technology platforms Harbour Mice^® generate fully human monoclonal antibodies in two heavy and two light chain (H2L2) format, as well as heavy chain only (HCAb) format. Building upon the HCAb antibodies, the HCAb-based immune cell engagers (HBICE^®) are capable of delivering tumor killing effects unachievable by traditional combination therapies. Integrating Harbour Mice^® with single B cell cloning platform, our antibody discovery engine is highly unique and efficient for development of next generation therapeutic antibodies. 

For further information, please refer to www.harbourbiomed.com