Merck Millipore Announces Agreement with Precision Biologics, Inc. to Provide Upstream Process Development Services

• Merck Millipore services include design and development of cost-effective process to deliver high yield and productivity
• Process development activities to be provided at Merck Millipore’s GMP biodevelopment center

February 2, 2015, Darmstadt, Germany — Merck Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck, today announced an agreement for providing upstream process development services for Precision Biologics, Inc., a Texas-based clinical-stage biotechnology company, to advance a preclinical monoclonal antibody. The antibody, NEO-201, binds to a tumor-specific antigen found in several forms of cancer, offering therapeutic potential across multiple cancer types, including colorectal, lung, ovarian, and pancreatic, an especially deadly cancer with limited treatment options.

Under the agreement, Merck Millipore will provide process development through its Provantage® Services offering, which leverages the company’s deep expertise in biopharmaceutical manufacturing to help customers design and develop custom processes that improve yield and productivity while reducing costs and accelerating time to market. The process development will occur at Merck Millipore’s single-use GMP biodevelopment center in Martillac, France.

“We chose to partner with Merck Millipore because of their legacy of scientific and process development expertise,” said Philip M. Arlen, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Precision Biologics, Inc. “In addition to their experience in the development of processes for manufacturing monoclonal antibodies, their approach to the structure of our partnership was very appealing and well-suited to an emerging company like ours. We are confident that Merck Millipore will be a valuable partner in advancing NEO-201 and helping to bring a potential new therapeutic to patients in need.”

“We are delighted to partner with Precision Biologics, Inc. to support the process development for NEO-201 and its anticipated progression into clinical trials,” said Udit Batra, President and Chief Executive Officer of Merck Millipore. “Our Provantage® team is committed to developing an efficient, effective and robust manufacturing process to help reduce the time and cost required to advance this important pre-clinical drug candidate into the next phase for clinical production.”

For more information about Provantage® Services, please visit: www.merckmillipore.com/Provantage.

For more information about Precision Biologics, Inc. and its drug candidate, please visit: www.precision-biologics.com.

About Merck Millipore
Merck Millipore is the Life Science business of Merck and offers a broad range of innovative, performance products, services and business relationships that enable our customers’ success in research, development and production of biotech and pharmaceutical drug therapies. Through dedicated collaboration on new scientific and engineering insights, and as one of the top three R&D investors in the Life Science Tools industry, Merck Millipore serves as a strategic partner to customers and helps advance the promise of life science. Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, the division has around 10,000 employees, operations in 66 countries and 2013 revenues of €2.6 billion. Merck Millipore operates as EMD Millipore in the U.S. and Canada.

About Merck
Merck is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company comprises six businesses – Merck Serono, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Biosimilars, Merck Millipore and Performance Materials – and generated total revenues of € 11.1 billion in 2013. Around 39,000 Merck employees work in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to foster the success of customers and to help meet global challenges. Merck is the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company – since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70% interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are Canada and the United States, where the company operates under EMD Serono, EMD Millipore and EMD Performance Materials.