Epitomics Appoints Dr. Zhiqiang An as Chief Scientif...( BURLINGAME Calif. Dec. 16 /PRNewswire...)

BURLINGAME, Calif., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Epitomics, Inc., the world's sole provider of humanized rabbit monoclonal antibodies for therapeutic use, today announced the appointment of Zhiqiang An, Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. An comes to Epitomics from Merck Research Laboratories, where he was Director of Biologics Research. He has over 12 years of experience in drug discovery and development in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, focusing on therapeutic antibody discovery, humanization and affinity maturation, preclinical and clinical development.

Epitomics, exclusive maker of RabMAb(R) monoclonal antibodies, is the commercial supplier of rabbit monoclonal antibodies, with customers around the world, including major biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies and academic research laboratories. With several recently issued industry-changing patents, Epitomics has established its proprietary RabMAb as a unique antibody technology with an excellent IP position. The addition of Dr. An further sets the stage for Epitomics to move aggressively into the human antibody therapeutic market starting with major pre-clinical work on multiple targets in 2009.

"Dr. An brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in antibody discovery, which he will leverage with Epitomics' strong technologies and innovation to generate a pipeline of best-in-class antibody therapeutics focusing on clinically proven targets for broad therapeutic indications. We are delighted that he joins the executive management team at such a decisive stage of the company's development," said Dr. Guo-Liang Yu, CEO of Epitomics.

"RabMAb(R) is a novel class of monoclonal antibodies which possess unique biological properties, including ultra-high affinity, diversity in epitope recognition, and high target specificity. Epitomics provides me with the opportunity to expand the healthcare promises of biologics by developing RabMAb as a
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