ABC.L Regulatory News (ABC)

15 Aug 2006 07:01

ABCAM Plc15 August 2006 For immediate release 15 August 2006 ABCAM PLC ("Abcam" or "the Company") Acquires Exclusive Rights to Product Line Abcam plc (AIM: ABC), a rapidly growing company that markets antibodies via anonline catalogue, is pleased to announce that, in line with the Company'sstrategy, it has acquired exclusive worldwide rights for the distribution of theentire product portfolio of US company Triple Point Biologics Inc ("Triple Point"). The products will be sold under the Abcam brand. Triple Point, which was founded in 1994 and is based in Portland, Oregon, is aprivately held business. It has a range of research antibodies and associatedreagents useful for cancer research, specifically in the widely studied area ofproteolysis, which has an increasingly recognised role in the division andmetastasizing of cancer cells. Its range comprises 350 products, which haveuntil now been sold directly and via distributors. Triple Point, which in common with Abcam serves the research community, iscommitted to adding at least a further 360 products during the first three yearsof the deal with Abcam. Triple Point's product range, over which Abcam will holdexclusive distribution rights, will add to Abcam's existing on-line catalogue ofmore than 23,000 products. Under the terms of the deal, Abcam will acquire the worldwide distributionrights for a period of ten years for an initial payment of $2m plus an earn-outpayment based on a percentage of sales achieved during the first four years,subject to a cap of $8m. In addition Abcam will pay a royalty based on apercentage of sales for the entire ten year term. It is expected that on apre-amortisation basis the deal will be marginally dilutive in the first yearand become earnings accretive in the first half of the second year. The initialconsideration will be satisfied from Abcam's existing cash resources. The acquisition of product ranges is in line with the strategy detailed at thetime of Abcam's flotation in November 2005 and moves the Company closer tofulfilling its corporate objective of becoming the world's leading antibodyresource. Jonathan Milner, Abcam's Chief Executive Officer, said: "Triple Point representsa superb opportunity to complement our existing range of research tools andantibodies for cancer research, and takes us further into the growing andexciting research field of proteolysis." For further information please contact: Abcam + 44 (0) 1223 696000 Jonathan Milner, Chief Executive OfficerEddie Powell, Chief Financial Officer www.abcam.com Buchanan Communications + 44 (0) 20 7466 5000 Mark CourtMary-Jane Johnson Notes for editors About Abcam Abcam is a producer and distributor of research-grade antibodies headquarteredin Cambridge, UK, with a US office located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Abcamwas admitted to AIM in November 2005 and trades under the ticker symbol ABC.The Company produces and distributes its own and third party produced antibodiesto academic and commercial users throughout the world with product informationprovided and ordering available through the Company's website, www.Abcam.com.The antibodies are sold almost entirely under the Abcam brandname. The Company'svision is to build the largest online antibody resource in the world while alsoensuring that the antibodies are of high quality and commercially viable. Abcamnow has an online catalogue of 23,000 products, most of which are antibodies,from over 200 suppliers supported by up-to-date and detailed technical datasheets, which are created by the Company. The Company currently employs 100staff. About antibodies Antibodies are proteins produced by white blood cells in response to theintroduction of a foreign body known as an antigen. Antibodies, which have awide variety of uses in research, diagnostics and therapeutics, are used bybioscientists in research into disease and into the human genome, where they areused to mark and identify specific cells and other living matter. The number ofhuman antibodies of use in research is potentially greater than one million. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange