Affimed joins the Molecular Imaging Technology Initiative; funding grant of €550K

Heidelberg, Germany — February 09, 2009 — Affimed Therapeutics AG, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of antibody therapeutics, today announced the start of a collaboration project with Bayer Schering Pharma AG, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and other partners within the Molecular Imaging Technology Initiative launched by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (“BMBF”). Affimed will receive a funded grant totaling more than €550.000 to carry out its part of the project.

BMBF supports the Molecular Imaging Technology Initiative for the development of new diagnostic methods and imaging technologies for clinical use and pharmaceutical applications. Within this collaboration, Affimed will identify and isolate new molecules binding to membrane-associated targets on tumour tissues, using its highly diverse human antibody libraries. The optimised binding molecules in their final format will be further characterized in vitro by the other above mentioned collaboration partners. The main goal is to find new diagnostic tracer molecules for use in imaging technologies, but identified molecules could also be used for in vitro diagnostic purposes or the development of new pharmaceutical therapeutics.

“We are delighted about being chosen for this collaboration,” said Prof. Melvyn Little, Chief Scientific Officer of Affimed. “Affimed’s antibody discovery engine is one of the most powerful in industry and we are confident that with this funding we will be able to generate novel tumour specific binding proteins that may have diagnostic or even therapeutic use.”

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 AFM13 for the treatment of Hodgkin’s disease has successfully completed preclinical development and will enter clinical studies in early 2010. Both AFM11 and AFM12 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), Heidelberg.