Affimed Therapeutics AG / Affimed Therapeutics AG completes move into drug development processed and transmitted by Hugin AS. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Spinout AbCheck s.r.o. to focus on antibody discovery

Heidelberg,  Germany; January 14 2010:  Affimed Therapeutics AG, the therapeutic
antibody  company from Heidelberg, announced today  that it is now concentrating
all  activities on  the exclusive  development of  its in-house  drug candidates
derived  from the company's proprietary TandAb technology platform. In line with
this,  the Company  has spun-out  its antibody  discovery activities  into a new
company: AbCheck s.r.o, (Plzen, Czech Republic).
Affimed  will now concentrate on preparing the first clinical study for its lead
product  AFM 13 to  treat Hodgkin's  lymphoma. The  Phase I  study for AFM 13 is
expected  to begin in the first half of 2010. AFM 13 is an innovative bispecific
antibody  based  on  the  company's  patented  TandAb  technology.  TandAbs

are

tetravalent  antibodies with manifold application  possibilities. The TandAbs in
the oncology indications bind target molecules on the surface of tumor cells and
simultaneously  activate T cells or natural killer cells (NK cells). TandAbs are
able to identify and selectively destroy tumor cells in the human body.
Preclinical  data  on  AFM  13 shows  great  promise forsafety, tolerability and
efficacy  of the antibody to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma. Further antibody programs
are  in  advanced  preclinical  development  for  the treatment of Non-Hodgkin's
Lymphoma, solid tumors, autoimmune diseases and asthma.
AbCheck  will continue Affimed's activities in antibody discovery. Additionally,
AbCheck  will  provide  its  longstanding  antibody  discovery  and  engineering
expertise   to   biotech   and   pharma  partners  and  provide  access  to

its

patent-protected technologies. Commercial partners will also have access to Affimed's unique and validated therapeutic antibody libraries. AbCheck specializes in customized antibody discovery and generation

for

therapeutic   applications.  Based  on  three  different  fully  human  antibody
libraries,  the technology portfolio covers all aspects regarding the generation
of  therapeutic antibodies  from research  to lead  optimisation. The company is
managed  by an experienced  teamwith longstanding expertise  in the isolation of
antibodies.  Dr  Volker  Lang,  formerly  Chief  Business Officer at Affimed, is
appointed Managing Director of AbCheck.
Dr  Thomas Hecht,Chairman of  the Supervisory Board  of Affimed commented: "With
our  broad  preclinical  product  portfolio  Affimed  is about to enter clinical
development  with  the  first,  unique  TandAb  antibodies.  With  the Company's
transition  into a clinical development organization, we feel it is necessary to
further focus our business model. At the same time, this transition frees up new
potential  for  the  commercialization  of  our  discovery expertise and a broad
proprietary  technology portfolio,  which we  will exploit  further with our new
antibody discovery spinout AbCheck.
Dr  RolfH.  Günther,  Chief  Executive  Officer  at  Affimed added: "We are very
pleased  that  we  have  been  able  to  secure Dr Lang as Managing Director for
AbCheck. We are convinced that he and his experienced team will rapidly progress
the  new company to  a successful commercial  player in the therapeutic antibody
market."
For further information please contact:


 Affimed Therapeutics AG                       AbCheck s.r.o.
 Dr. Rolf H. Günther (CEO)                     Dr. Volker Lang (Managing
                                               Director)
 Phone: +49 6221 65307-0                       Phone:+420 378 051500
 Fax: +49 6221 65307 77                        Fax:+420 378 051506
 E-Mail: R.Guenther@affimed.com                E-Mail: V.Lang@abcheck.eu
                                               <mailto:V.Lang@abcheck.eu>


 MC Services AG
 Birte Stein
 Phone:+49 89 210 228 12
 Fax:+49 89 210 228 88
 E-Mail: Birte.

<mailto:Birte.Stein@mc-services.eu>Stein@mc-s

ervices.eu

<mailto:Birte.Stein@mc-services.eu>

About Affimed Therapeutics AG:
Affimed Therapeutics AG is a therapeutic antibody company developing unique
antibody therapeutics as novel treatments for life threatening diseases with
high unmet medical need. The company has been generating a growing pipeline of
anticancer drug candidates based on its proprietary TandAb technology platform.
Affimed's lead product candidate AFM 13 for the treatment of Hodgkin's disease
has successfully completed preclinical development and will enter clinical
studies in early 2010. Both AFM 11 and AFM 12 to treat Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
are currently in preclinical development and are expected to begin clinical
studies in late 2010. Further novel product candidates are being developed for
the treatment of solid tumors, autoimmune diseases and asthma.  Affimed's
proprietary and highly productive TandAb technology enables the company to
generate unique tetravalent, bispecific, fully human antibody formats that
promise increased therapeutic potential and superior profiles compared to
monoclonal antibodies. The private company Affimed, which employs 26 people in
Heidelberg, is a spin-off from the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ
<http://www.dkfz.de/>), Heidelberg.
About AbCheck s.r.o.:
AbCheckspecializes   in   customized   antibody   discovery  and  screening

for

therapeutic   applications.  Based  on  three  different  fully  human  antibody
libraries,  the technology portfolio covers all aspects regarding the generation
of  therapeutic antibodies from research to  lead optimisation. The use of three
highly  diversified libraries  enables  AbCheck  to isolate  very specific human
antibodies against virtually any target from a portfolio of more than 10 billion
different   antibodies.   The   company  has  isolated  more  than  25 different
therapeutic  antibody drug candidates with characteristics such as high affinity
and  high specificity for even  the most difficult targets.  AbCheck s.r.o. is a
spin-off   of Affimed Therapeutics AG and is headquartered within the technology
park in Plzen, Czech Republic.


[HUG#1373504]



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Affimed Therapeutics AG
Im Neuenheimer Feld 582 Heidelberg  Germany



    Press release (PDF): http://hugin.info/142251/R/1373504/336555.pdf