Athera Biotechnologies and Dyax Announce a Collaboration to Discover and Develop Antibodies for Cardiovascular Inflammation

Stockholm (ots/PRNewswire) - Athera Biotechnologies AB
and Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ:DYAX) announced today that they have entered
into a collaboration to discover and to develop therapeutic products
for the prevention or treatment of cardiovascular inflammatory
diseases.

The collaboration follows the recent publication of work by
Athera scientific founders, Professors Frostegard and de Faire of the
Karolinska Institutet. The research links naturally occurring
antibodies against phosphorylcholine (PC) to atherosclerosis, and
correlates low antibody levels with an increased risk of developing
cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory
disease in which the walls of the blood vessels are thickened and
become less elastic.

During the discovery phase of the collaboration, Dyax will
utilize its proprietary antibody libraries to generate fully human
monoclonal antibodies. Athera will provide reagents, assays, and in
vivo animal models for use in selecting a clinical product candidate.
Upon successful completion of the discovery work, Athera and Dyax
will have the option to advance the antibody lead(s) into clinical
development under the terms of a global co-development and
commercialization agreement.

"We are very pleased to be working with Athera," commented Clive
Wood, EVP, Discovery Research and CSO of Dyax Corp. "Through their
innovative research from the Karolinska Institutet, we believe Athera
has identified an exciting potential opportunity for therapeutic
antibody treatment of cardiovascular inflammation."

"The strength of Dyax's phage display technology, screening
capabilities and expertise in drug discovery make them an excellent
partner to advance our cardiovascular research program," said Carina
Schmidt, CEO of Athera.

About Dyax Corp.

Dyax is focused on advancing novel biotherapeutics for unmet
medical needs, with an emphasis on oncology and inflammatory
indications. Dyax utilizes its proprietary drug discovery technology
to identify antibody, small protein and peptide compounds for
clinical development. Dyax's lead product candidate is DX-88
(ecallantide), a recombinant small protein that is currently being
evaluated for its therapeutic potential in two separate indications.
On September 24, 2008, Dyax announced the submission of its Biologics
License Application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for
approval of DX-88 for the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE).
DX-88 has orphan drug designation in the U.S. and E.U., as well as
Fast Track designation in the U.S., for the treatment of acute
attacks of HAE. Additionally, DX-88 is being evaluated for the
prevention of blood loss during on-pump cardiothoracic surgery (CTS)
through its partner Cubist Pharmaceuticals. Dyax licensed to Cubist
the intravenous formulation of DX-88 for surgical indications in
North America and Europe. DX-88 and other compounds in Dyax's
pipeline were identified using its patented phage display technology,
which rapidly selects compounds that bind with high affinity and
specificity to therapeutic targets. Dyax leverages this technology
broadly with over 70 revenue generating licenses and collaborations
for therapeutic discovery, as well as in non-core areas such as
affinity separations, diagnostic imaging, and research reagents.

Dyax Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding the expected benefits of Dyax's licensed
technology in its collaboration with Athera and the prospects for
development of therapeutic antibodies to treat cardiovascular
inflammation. Statements that are not historical facts are based on
Dyax's current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates,
forecasts and projections about the industry and markets in which
Dyax competes. The statements contained in this release are not
guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks,
uncertainties and assumptions, which are difficult to predict.
Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from
what is expressed in such forward-looking statements. Important
factors which may affect the expected benefits of Dyax's
collaboration with Athera and the prospects for development of
antibodies to phosphorylcholine include the risks that: products from
this collaboration may not show therapeutic effect or an acceptable
safety profile in clinical trials or could take a significantly
longer time to gain regulatory approval than Dyax expects or may
never gain approval; products developed in this collaboration may not
gain market acceptance; others may develop products superior to those
being developed in this collaboration; Dyax is dependent on the
expertise, effort, priorities and contractual obligations of Athera
in the development of products arising out of this collaboration;
Dyax and Athera may not be able to obtain and maintain intellectual
property protection for the products of this collaboration; and other
risk factors described or referred to in Dyax's most recent Annual
Report on Form 10-K and other periodic reports filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Dyax cautions investors not to
place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in
this release. These statements speak only as of the date of this
release, and Dyax undertakes no obligations to update or revise these
statements, except as may be required by law. Dyax specifically
disclaims responsibility for information describing Athera and its
business other than the license with Dyax.

Dyax and the Dyax logo are the registered trademarks of Dyax
Corp.

About Athera Biotechnologies

Athera Biotechnologies AB develops novel products for risk
assessment and treatment of CVD. The company was founded in 2002 to
exploit findings made by Professors Johan Frostegard and Ulf de Faire
on the critical role of phospholipid antibodies (aPL) in the
inflammatory process of cardiovascular disease. Athera is based in
Karolinska Institutet Science Park in Stockholm and main investors
include Karolinska Development and Baltic Sea Foundation. Athera is a
major partner in the highly ranked EU-project CVDIMMUNE lead by
Karolinska Institutet. The project involves 10 academic and
industrial partners, including Phadia GmbH, Johannes
Gutenberg-University Mainz and Leiden University Medical Center. For
further information see http://www.athera.se.

Contact: Carina Schmidt, CEO, Phone: +46705525115,
Mail: c.schmidt@athera.se

ots Originaltext: Athera Biotechnologies
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Contact: Carina Schmidt, CEO, Phone: +46705525115, Mail:
c.schmidt@athera.se