Dr. Schottelius, former executive at Kymab, MorphoSys and Genentech, brings extensive innate immunity expertise and successful record of advancing discovery research into preclinical and clinical developmentHeidelberg, Germany, March 17, 2020 – Affimed N.V. (Nasdaq: AFMD), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company committed to giving patients back their innate ability to fight cancer, today announced the appointment of Dr. Arndt Schottelius as Chief Scientific Officer, effective April 2020. Dr. Schottelius will lead Affimed’s discovery, translational innovation and platform engineering teams. In addition, Dr. Schottelius will lead the company’s preclinical development activities, initiatives to generate additional innate cell engagers based on its proprietary fit-for-purpose ROCK® (Redirected Optimized Cell Killing) platform and efforts to strengthen Affimed’s intellectual property. Dr. Schottelius will also take a lead role in furthering Affimed’s ongoing Genentech partnership and other key collaborations.“We are thrilled to have Dr. Schottelius join our team,” said Dr. Adi Hoess, Affimed’s CEO. “With over 20 years of industry experience, Dr. Schottelius has a unique background in building therapeutic antibody pipelines and a strong track record in advancing drugs through development. Importantly, he also is seasoned in establishing productive collaborations that have led to increasing the value of his previous companies’ pipelines.”Dr. Hoess added, “Earlier this month, we welcomed another industry veteran, Dr. Andreas Harstrick as Affimed’s Chief Medical Officer. With these two key appointments, we have strengthened our management team, and Affimed is ideally positioned to continue its leadership in innate immunity by broadening our portfolio of innate cell engagers and successfully launching additional clinical programs.”Most recently, Dr. Schottelius was Executive Vice President and Head of Research & Development at Kymab Group Limited, where he was responsible for expanding the therapeutic antibody portfolio. Dr. Schottelius previously served as Chief Development Officer at MorphoSys AG, developing the portfolio of proprietary therapeutic antibody programs in cancer and immunology. While at MorphoSys, he was instrumental in in-licensing tafasitamab (MOR208, formerly Xmab®5574), a humanized anti-CD19 Fc-enhanced monoclonal antibody that attracts an immune response from natural killer cells and macrophages. Dr. Schottelius drove strategic direction and development of the MOR208 program into multiple fully-sponsored monotherapy and combination therapy Phase 2 trials, which were the basis for a fast-to-market registration path. On the business development front, Dr. Schottelius led the scientific efforts to successfully establish partnerships with GSK and Celgene. Prior to his role at MorphoSys, Dr. Schottelius was a Medical Director, Immunology Development at Genentech Inc., where he directed early and late-stage clinical development programs of therapeutic antibodies. Before joining Genentech, Dr. Schottelius held science and management positions in immunology research at Schering AG and Berlex Biosciences.“I am excited to join the Affimed team,” said Dr. Schottelius.  “A case of advanced cancer in my immediate family highly motivates me to find better and safer cancer therapies. The innate immunity space is largely untapped and a strong driver in my decision to join Affimed is the promise the ROCK® platform holds to deliver clinically meaningful, transformative medicines to a broad set of underserved cancer patient populations. I am specifically excited to lead the translational work supporting the two clinical stage programs AFM13 and AFM24, as well as accelerate the pre-clinical pipeline programs AFM28 and AFM32. I look forward to working with the team of incredibly talented and experienced scientists at Affimed.”Dr. Schottelius studied medicine in Freiburg, Germany and at the Royal Free Hospital in London. He holds a PhD and MD degree from the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg and is a lecturer at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich with a habilitation in Experimental Internal Medicine. He practiced medicine as a resident physician in gastroenterology at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin in Berlin, Germany, held a research fellowship from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Lineberger Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, before working in the pharmaceutical industry.About Affimed N.V.Affimed (Nasdaq: AFMD) is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company committed to giving patients back their innate ability to fight cancer. Affimed’s fit-for-purpose ROCK® platform allows innate cell engagers to be designed for specific patient populations. The Company is developing single and combination therapies to treat hematologic and solid tumors. For more information, please visit www.affimed.com.  FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTSThis press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “goal,” “intend,” “look forward to,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places throughout this release and include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses and current expectations concerning, among other things, the value of our ROCK® platform, our ongoing and planned preclinical development and clinical trials, our collaborations and development of our products in combination with other therapies, the timing of and our ability to make regulatory filings and obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for our product candidates, our intellectual property position, our collaboration activities, our ability to develop commercial functions, clinical trial data, our results of operations, cash needs, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, future transactions, growth and strategies, the industry in which we operate, the trends that may affect the industry or us and the risks, uncertainties and other factors described under the heading “Risk Factors” in Affimed’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Given these risks, uncertainties and other factors, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.Affimed Investor and Media ContactGregory Gin, Head of Investor Relations
E-Mail: [email protected]
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