MACROGENICS WINS NIH GRANTS FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE PROGRAMS

MacroGenics has announced that the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. NIH, awarded the company a $50 million contract over five years to develop a monoclonal antibody to the West Nile virus. The NIAID contract will support the advancement of the antibody through manufacturing and Phase II clinical trials. MacroGenics' West Nile antibody is currently in late-stage preclinical testing and is anticipated to enter Phase I clinical trials in the first half of 2007.

MacroGenics' therapeutic antibody will be targeted to individuals who develop neuroinvasive disease as a result of West Nile infection, including patients with meningitis and encephalitis. Since 1999, more than 20,000 cases of West Nile virus have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 42 percent of these reported cases involved neuroinvasive disease.

MacroGenics also was recently granted two additional awards from NIAID totaling close to $13 million to support two new infectious disease programs. The company received a grant of up to $6.8 million to develop a monoclonal antibody with neutralizing activity against smallpox virus in collaboration with investigators at NIAID. The company also won a subcontract of up to $6 million from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to develop cross-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies specific for the H5N1 influenza virus.