In December 2020, Veraxa Biotech AG, Zurich, Switzerland, was incorporated toacquire Araxa Biosciences GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany, and Velabs TherapeuticsGmbH, Heidelberg, Germany. Araxa Biosciences GmbH was incorporated in January2019 and Velabs Therapeutics GmbH in 2017, both spin-off companies from theEuropean Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and its technology transfer arm EMBLEM Technology Transfer GmbH. In 2021, Araxa Biosciences GmbH and Velabs Therapeutics GmbH merged to become Veraxa Biotech GmbH, which isfully owned by the Swiss entity Veraxa Biotech AG. Veraxa Biotech AG operates through Veraxa Biotech GmbH.

With the acquisition of Araxa Biosciences GmbH and Velabs Therapeutics GmbH (merged into Veraxa GmbH) Veraxa Biotech AG combines two technologies with the goal to solve major challenges in antibody drug development in the fields of screening for functional therapeutic antibodies and aims to develop one of the next generation antibody drug conjugation (antibody-drug conjugates, "ADCs")technologies to expand its preclinical antibody capacities from early screening to later stage antibody engineering and to sharpen its profile in personalized medicine and precision oncology.

Veraxa Biotech AG focuses on functional screening of antibodies by microfluidics-based technologies. The high throughput screening platform allows for testing millions of correctly paired fully natural Immunoglobulins G ("IgG") from humans and mice for true functional effects, rather than just for binding effects.Rare functional hits are readily identified, which might be burdensome to detect under current prevailing technologies. The antibody screens of Veraxa has thus the ability to significantly shorten pre-clinical development. This project is implemented by Veraxa Biotech GmbH together with the EMBLHeidelberg.

Veraxa Biotech GmbH's proprietary technology platforms are currently used in various collaborations with pharma and biotech partners, including, among others, with our other Portfolio Companies IxTherapeutics GmbH, panmabs GmbH and QUADIRA BIOSCIENCES AG. They help to accelerate the partners’ antibody drug development and reduce development associated risks. Those collaborations are concluded for various target sources, ranging from G protein-coupled receptors ("GPCRs") over natural T‐cell repertoires up to complex membrane receptors and pathogen neutralizing antibodies. The services offered by Veraxa Biotech comprise functional antibodies like patient-derived antibodies for tumour suppression, selective and functional antibodies againstGPCR or other complex membrane receptors and human antibodies against pathogenic bacterial or viral strains. In addition to the execution of service projects, Veraxa Biotech is currently building its own pipeline of therapeutic antibody candidates for further joint development with pharmaceutical partners.Furthermore, the company is striving for further cooperation with contract research organizations, clinical centres, academic and research institutions.

For more information, please visit: www.veraxa.com

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