Abcam moves to new purpose-built global headquarters

Cambridge, UK – 27 February 2019 : Abcam, a global innovator in life science reagents and tools, is pleased to announce its move to new state-of-the-art global headquarters, Discovery Drive, on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC), UK, a leading hub of healthcare, science and medical research.

Alan Hirzel, CEO, Abcam, commented: “Abcam has been working for 20 years providing biological reagents and tools to help our customers accelerate research, and develop diagnostics and therapeutics that could revolutionise healthcare outcomes. Moving to Discovery Drive is integral to our mission to best serve the global life science community.”

With sites across the US, Europe and Asia in the world’s leading life science research hubs, Abcam’s move to Discovery Drive will combine three existing UK sites. Bringing all employees together, including R&D, laboratory, logistics, corporate and commercial functions, will facilitate open collaboration between teams to improve efficiency and innovation.

To support the Company’s continued growth, the new building provides 75% more space, features fully flexible laboratory configurations, and has new instrumentation and technology for enhanced scientific capabilities. It has also been designed to support agile working and provide introvert and extrovert workspaces.

In addition, the building has been developed to meet global sustainability standards, help protect the natural environment and enhance employee wellbeing.

Dr Michael Weiner wins CiteAb’s 2019 Lifetime achievement award

We are pleased to announce that Dr Michael Weiner, Abcam’s Vice President of Molecular Sciences, is the winner of CiteAb’s 2019 Lifetime achievement award. The award recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to the research reagent industry over a sustained period of time.

Dr Andrew Chalmers, founder of CiteAb, said: “Dr Weiner has a remarkable portfolio of achievements that have furthered our sector significantly throughout his career to date. Our judges were extremely impressed by the breadth of Dr Weiner’s impact and efforts and we feel he’s a very worthy recipient of this esteemed award. Our team wishes Dr Weiner and Abcam many congratulations.”

Dr Weiner said: “I’m grateful and honored to win this award. Delivering research with practical utility for bench scientists has always been my life’s goal and I cannot wait to see where the hard work and innovation of the people at Abcam takes the life sciences next”.

Dr Weiner has delivered several extremely useful and well-received products into the commercial marketplace. He invented the first commercially available means for next-generation DNA sequencing and emulsion PCR (454 Life Sciences, now Roche). The methods have each been cited in over 50,000 scientific articles.

As a serial entrepreneurial scientist, Dr Weiner has successfully founded and sold three companies: Affomix, acquired by Illumina in 2010; GnuBio, acquired by Bio-Rad in 2014; and AxioMx, acquired by Abcam in 2015. His time, innovation, and hard work with these companies have led to many ground-breaking additions to research. Dr Weiner’s additional inventions have also included a bead-based genotyping method, which he pioneered at GlaxoWellcome, (now GlaxoSmithKline) and improved methods for the production of monoclonal antibodies (Affomix) to name just a few.

Beyond his career as a scientist, Dr Weiner, was selected as the Entrepreneur of the Year (2016) for Connecticut by CURE (CURE is Connecticut’s Bioscience Innovation Network). He continues to give time and resources to training and mentoring multiple bioscience professionals throughout his local community of Connecticut.

Abcam was also “highly commended” in several additional categories in the CiteAb awards:

  • Most exciting antibody validation initiative
  • Life science reagent supplier of the year
  • Plant science antibody supplier of the year
  • ELISA kit company of the year

Abcam expands custom services capabilities with the acquisition of Calico Biolabs

London and Cambridge, UK, 28 January 2019: Abcam plc, a global innovator in life science reagents and tools, is pleased to announce its acquisition of Calico Biolabs, a developer of custom high-quality recombinant rabbit monoclonal antibodies for diagnostics and pharmaceutical company partners.

Joyce Young, Vice President of Custom Services, Abcam commented:“This acquisition strategically expands our leadership in recombinant rabbit monoclonal antibody technology. The combination of our complementary antibody engineering capabilities will further support our mission to provide our customers with access to the best antibodies for both today’s and tomorrow’s targets of interest.”

Jacinto Villanueva, CEO, Calico Biolabs, commented:“Abcam is a recognised leader for the supply of high-quality validated antibodies, supported by an innovative approach to production and commercialisation, and we are excited to be joining the team. This move will enable us to more fully support the cancer research and associated diagnostics development being carried out by our industry partners.”

Calico Biolabs partners with many of the leaders in the diagnostics and biopharmaceutical industries to create custom products for companion diagnostics. In addition, Calico Biolabs range of ready-made recombinant CAL antibodies™ for critical immuno-oncology targets will now be available at both research and commercial scale, via the Abcam global commercial network.

To find out more about Abcam’s custom services visit: www.abcam.com/custom-services

Abcam and the LouLou Foundation partner to develop key research tools for CDKL5 deficiency disorder

London and Cambridge, UK, 22 January 2019: Abcam plc, a global innovator in life science reagents and tools, and the Loulou Foundation, a private UK-based foundation dedicated to the development of therapeutics for CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder, announced a research collaboration to discover new tools to advance research in this area of high unmet medical need.

Under this agreement, the Loulou Foundation will work closely with Abcam’s team of antibody development experts using its proprietary RabMAb® technology to generate novel rabbit monoclonal antibody reagents for detection of CDKL5 and its downstream kinase phosphorylation targets. In addition, this project has the potential to significantly enhance and accelerate research into CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder via development of new, more relevant high-throughput assays.

CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder is among the most prevalent monogenic neurodevelopmental and epileptic disorders, with an incidence rate of approximately 1 in 40,000 live births. Infantile spasms present shortly after birth, and progress to largely intractable epilepsy, along with neurodevelopmental delay impacting multiple domains. Current anti-epileptic treatments are only partially effective and there is no treatment for the neurodevelopmental delay.

Daniel Lavery, Chief Scientific Officer at the Loulou Foundation, commented:“Despite ongoing research, the mechanisms responsible for the neurodevelopmental delay and epilepsy caused by CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder remain unknown. The lack of quality reagents for detecting the expression and function of CDKL5 has been a significant hurdle to our understanding of the biology. We are excited to be partnering with Abcam on this critical project to identify and develop the vital tools to drive research into this devastating disorder.”

John Baker, SVP, Portfolio and Business Development at Abcam, commented:“Improved detection and characterization of the CDKL5 protein and its phosphorylation targets will significantly aid in pre-clinical and clinical research and help pave the way for more effective therapies. We are looking forward to a successful collaboration with the Loulou Foundation. We believe their disease area expertise will perfectly complement our in-house product development skills and capabilities, to drive much-needed progress and innovation in this project.”

QIAGEN (Suzhou) and Abcam sign strategic MoU collaboration agreement to co-develop companion diagnostic (CDx) and in vitro diagnostic (IVD) reagents and kits for the Chinese market

Suzhou, China and Cambridge, UK, December 6: Abcam plc, a global innovator in life science reagents and tools, and QIAGEN (Suzhou) Translational Medicine Co., Ltd. (QIAGEN (Suzhou)) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement to jointly develop a pipeline of Companion Diagnostic (CDx) and In Vitro Diagnostic reagents and kits, to meet the specific needs of the Chinese market.

Under the terms of this agreement, the teams will work closely together to develop kits targeting pan-NTRK, dMMR, as well as other protein-based CDx products. Previously, the organisations have successfully collaborated on the development of immunohistochemical (IHC) assay kits for dMMR (MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, and MLH1) which achieve high sensitivity and specificity. The components of the CDx kits developed for MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, and MLH1 antibody reagents have been filed as Class I medical devices by QIAGEN (Suzhou).

The organisations are targeting the rapidly increasing demand for protein CDx products within the Chinese market. The two sides have agreed to a long-term strategic collaboration that will see them working closely together in a mutually beneficial relationship that is aiming to support the increased growth of the companion diagnostic industry within China.

The industry has seen a rapid development in personalized medicine and precision medicine, where companion diagnostics plays a vital role. A companion diagnostic is used to assess drug treatment responses in patients and is helpful in determining the patients who are most likely to benefit from a particular treatment. The use of companion diagnostics helps improve overall drug efficacy and supports reduction in overall healthcare costs.

In 2014, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration, USA) released Guidance for Industry: In Vitro Companion Diagnostics Devices, which identifies the need for companion diagnostics at an earlier stage in the drug development process and to plan for co-development of the drug and companion diagnostic test.

About Abcam

As an innovator in reagents and tools, Abcam’s purpose is to serve life science researchers globally to achieve their mission, faster. Providing the research and clinical communities with tools and scientific support, the Company offers highly validated biological binders and assays to address important targets in critical biological pathways.

Already a pioneer in data sharing and ecommerce in the life sciences, Abcam’s ambition is to be the most influential company in life sciences by helping advance global understanding of biology and causes of disease, which, in turn, will drive new treatments and improved health.

Two-thirds of the world’s 750,000 life science researchers use Abcam’s affinity binders, reagents, biomarkers and assays and the Company’s products are mentioned in over 20,000 of the 56,000 peer-reviewed papers published each year in the life sciences.

By actively listening to and collaborating with researchers, the Company continuously advances its portfolio to address their needs. A transparent programme of customer reviews and datasheets, combined with an industry-leading validation initiative, gives researchers increased confidence in their results.

Abcam’s eleven offices are located in the world’s leading life science research hubs, enabling local services and multi-language support. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Cambridge, UK, the Company sells to more than 100 countries. Abcam was admitted to AIM in 2005 (AIM: ABC).

About QIAGEN

As the leader of the entire solutions for companion diagnostics in the precision medical treatment in China, QIAGEN (Suzhou) is an innovative enterprise with a high starting point focusing on biomarkers, companion diagnostics, and their clinical application. With integrated translational medicine and product development platforms, and a strong technical team, QIAGEN (Suzhou) provides its partners with one-stop services from validation of biomarkers and development of test methods, to the molecular detection in patients with new drug clinical trials and screening patients for group enrolment, and the development and commercialization of companion diagnostic kits. Based on the comprehensive and integrated service technology platforms and the R&D of the companion diagnostic products, QIAGEN (Suzhou) has made remarkable achievements in the joint development of companion diagnostic products in the field of translational oncology and cancer immunotherapy based on nucleic acid and protein markers with pharmaceutical companies and offered integrated solutions to more than 70 pharmaceutical companies.

Abcam ‘Most Admired Company’ award

Award from Management Today celebrates the highest performing companies in British business.

Abcam Plc, a leading provider of protein research tools and services, announced today it had been voted in at number 16 in Management Today’s “Britain’s Most Admired Companies (BMAC) 2018”, and 5th in the Health and Household sector. The BMAC Awards are an important indicator of the highest performing companies in British business that embed excellence throughout their organization and are unique in that the results are arrived at via a rigorous and independent process of peer review.

“We are grateful for this achievement and recognition. We are working hard to create a great company and it is a pleasure to be considered with a top 10 that includes Diageo, AstraZeneca, GSK, and McLaren Automotive. I thank our global teams for their dedication, and I’m excited to see just how much more we can achieve in the coming years” said Alan Hirzel CEO.

This has been a great year for Abcam, winning CiteAb’s award for “Antibody company with sustained success in China” in January and then Alan Hirzel picking up the “European Mediscience Chief Executive of the year” award in June. With great strides now being made in the antibody discovery arena, Abcam is on track to achieve its goal of becoming the most influential life science company for researchers around the globe.

Abcam appoints Cheri Walker, PhD, as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development

Cambridge, UK – 30 October 2018: Abcam plc, a global innovator in life science reagents and tools, announced today that it has appointed Cheri Walker, PhD, to the role of Senior Vice President, Corporate Development.

Cheri is an accomplished industry professional with over 20 years’ experience in the life sciences tools and diagnostics sector. She previously held the role of Chief Financial Officer and SVP, Corporate Development at Kailos Genetics where she was responsible for the strategic growth and expansion of the company. Prior to joining Kailos Genetics, Cheri held senior level corporate development roles at Invitrogen, QIAGEN and Charles River Laboratories.

Cheri has a PhD from Baylor College of Medicine in Human and Molecular Genetics and a BA in Biology from Swarthmore College.

Based in Abcam’s Boston, MA, (USA) office, Cheri will oversee acquisitions and partnerships and shape the company’s corporate development strategy.

“We are delighted to welcome Cheri to the team. Cheri brings a wealth of scientific and corporate development experience to the role. Her appointment will strengthen Abcam’s leadership team and will help focus our future acquisition and partnership opportunities to achieve continued growth”.

– Alan Hirzel, CEO, Abcam

New PBS-only antibodies enable more flexible research

Cambridge, UK – 9 October 2018: Abcam’s new phosphate buffered saline (PBS)-only recombinant antibodies are free from preservatives and stabilising agents, offering improved flexibility for researchers conducting more complex experiments.

Typically, antibodies are stored in a buffer composed of bovine serum albumin (BSA), glycerol and sodium azide to ensure stability. However, these components can inhibit effective conjugation to certain dyes and enzymes or they can be toxic to live cells. In a concentrated solution, without BSA, glycerol or azide, PBS-only antibodies are ideally suited to antibody labelling, functional and cell-based assays and live cell imaging applications.

Developed using Abcam’s rabbit monoclonal recombinant technology, the PBS-only antibodies are highly reproducible ensuring batch-to-batch consistency and are extensively validated across a wide range of applications including Flow, WB, ChIP, ICC, IHC and Knockout validation. Abcam is now making over 2300 of these antibodies available, via its catalog for global researchers.

Find out more at: www.abcam.com/pbs-only

Abcam Merck collaboration produces new PD-L1 antibody for immuno-oncology research

  • Clone 73-10 now available to the global research community

Cambridge, UK, 2 July, 2018: Abcam, a global innovator in life science reagents and tools today announced the commercial launch of the new anti-PD-L1 antibody clone MKP1A07310 (clone 73-10) developed in collaboration with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

Developed by Abcam for use by Merck as an analytical antibody to support Merck’s therapeutic programme several years ago, this new clone has been created by Abcam’s in-house antibody engineers, who specialise in the discovery and development of challenging antibodies. The antibody is important in assessing the expression of PD-L1 in tumors from patients who might be able to benefit from PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint immunotherapy.

John Baker, SVP Portfolio and Business Development, Abcam said “Collaborations with industry partners are an important part of Abcam’s strategy to provide the best tools to all researchers world-wide. By working with Merck we are able to make available this important antibody at scale to help scientists accelerate their research, and expand understanding of the role of immune checkpoint inhibitors as cancer therapeutics.”

Clone 73-10 is an important addition to Abcam’s range of PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint antibodies and is available via the Abcam website. To find out more please visit https://www.abcam.com/pdl1-ab-73-10

Congratulations to Alan Hirzel, winner of European Mediscience Awards Chief Executive of the year award

Cambridge, UK – 15 June 2018: We’re excited to announce that our CEO, Alan Hirzel, has won the European Mediscience Chief Executive of the year award. Alan was appointed CEO of Abcam in 2014 and has since driven Abcam to new heights, tripling the share price, and delivering double-digit revenue growth.

As CEO, Alan has implemented multiple strategies to achieve this, transforming the commercial focus of the company and always keeping customers right at its heart. Thanks to Alan’s leadership, we are on track to achieve our goal of becoming the most influential life science company for researchers around the globe, helping them to achieve their mission, faster.

“Last night, at the European Mediscience award ceremony in London, I received a recognition that was made possible by everyone at Abcam. Whilst the attention was centered on my role as CEO, I see it as an appreciation of what we are accomplishing together. We dedicate ourselves to helping our customers improve lives and rapidly advance biological discovery. We succeed because of the things we do each day to make sure we offer fast response, high quality, and distinctive solutions for our customers.” – Alan