Athera Biotechnologies and Dyax Announce a Collaboration to Discover and Develop Antibodies for Cardiovascular Inflammation

Stockholm, Sweden and Cambridge, MA, 2008-10-02

Athera Biotechnologies AB and Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ:DYAX) announced today that they have entered into a collaboration to discover and to develop therapeutic products for the prevention or treatment of cardiovascular inflammatory diseases.

The collaboration follows the recent publication of work by Athera scientific founders, Professors Frostegård and de Faire of the Karolinska Institutet. The research links naturally occurring antibodies against phosphorylcholine (PC) to atherosclerosis, and correlates low antibody levels with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease in which the walls of the blood vessels are thickened and become less elastic.

During the discovery phase of the collaboration, Dyax will utilize its proprietary antibody libraries to generate fully human monoclonal antibodies. Athera will provide reagents, assays, and in vivo animal models for use in selecting a clinical product candidate. Upon successful completion of the discovery work, Athera and Dyax will have the option to advance the antibody lead(s) into clinical development under the terms of a global co-development and commercialization agreement.

"We are very pleased to be working with Athera," commented Clive Wood, EVP, Discovery Research and CSO of Dyax Corp. "Through their innovative research from the Karolinska Institutet, we believe Athera has identified an exciting potential opportunity for therapeutic antibody treatment of cardiovascular inflammation."

"The strength of Dyax's phage display technology, screening capabilities and expertise in drug discovery make them an excellent partner to advance our cardiovascular research program," said Carina Schmidt, CEO of Athera.