Press
Release

Rockland Immunochemicals has Invested Minority Interest in Abzyme Therapeutics, LLC

Limerick, PA. January 28th, 2015 – Rockland Immunochemicals Inc. today announced that it has acquired a minority interest in Abzyme Therapeutics, LLC (Abzyme). Abzyme’s unique technology, designed to develop therapeutic antibodies, comes as an interest to Rockland after the two companies worked together on several former and ongoing National Institute of Health (NIH) funded projects.

Abzyme’s technology, Self-Diversifying Antibody Library (SDALib), advances yeast based monoclonal antibody discovery and optimization by developing a rapid, inducible, self-diversifying VH and VL yeast based library. This will replace the time consuming iterative static library commonly used. One of the key advantages of the Abzyme technology is its ability to continually maturate and optimize antibodies or proteins during the clonal selection process. The process begins with a naïve yeast display that contains genes for antibodies from a number of host organisms. After an initial selection process, the affinity or binding properties of the antibody can be maturated through a proprietary library diversification technology. Once selected, the antibody encoding genes can easily be transferred into an E. coli or other expression hosts to manufacture the desired antibody.

“Abzyme is an exciting company in which we have invested,” explains Rockland’s Chief Operating Officer, Richard Smith. “The pre-existing synergies between Rockland and Abzyme allow us to implant our footstep into the thriving diagnostic and therapeutic antibody markets. We are eager to help advance this established business and make lasting impressions on the future of therapeutic medicines.”

While both companies will remain independent, Rockland has also licensed SDALib to work on single domain antibodies (sdAbs), also known as Nanobodies, which will benefit the research antibody market. Rockland will begin to produce research sdAbs to support important research for cancer and epigenetic targets. Single-domain antibodies have a selection process that is different than traditional monoclonal antibodies and they are about one-tenth the size of a typical antibody. Their small size, physical properties and ease of manufacture can mean significant improvements in the development of important immunoassays. These reagents are expected to be a strong complement to Rockland’s existing polyclonal and monoclonal product lines.

About Rockland Immunochemicals

Rockland Immunochemicals, Inc. supports the academic, biopharma, and diagnostic industries with antibodies and antibody based tools used in basic research, assay development, and preclinical studies. With facilities in Pennsylvania for over 50 years, Rockland manufactures products ideally suited for integration into critical assays such
as western blotting, immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunofluorescence microscopy
(IF), ELISA and flow cytometry. Additional information about Rockland’s life science
tools and services can be found on Rockland’s website at www.rockland-inc.com.

About Abzyme Therapeutics

Founded in 2010, Abzyme Therapeutics LLC develops yeast-based technology
platforms mimicking mammalian antibody diversification processes to bring
revolutionary speed and diversity to antibody generation. Using proprietary protein
evolution platforms – Self-Diversifying Antibody Libraries or SDALib and yeast based
expression and selection systems, Abzyme is pioneering methods to generate and
rapidly develop camelid nanobodies and full-sized natural human monoclonal
antibodies suitable for treating a broad range of diseases. Additional information about
Abzyme Therapeutics LLC can be found on the company website at
www.abzymetx.com.

For additional information regarding this announcement, please contact:

Dana Dever
Marketing, Rockland Immunochemicals Inc.
Phone: 484.791.3823
Email: dana.dever@rockland-inc.com