Adheron Therapeutics has been acquired by Roche. Adheron is a privately held biotechnology company developing SDP051, a product that disrupts cell adhesion which can potentially be used to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and fibrotic disease. SDP051 was fully humanized using Abzena’s Composite Human Antibody technology.

Adheron has completed a phase I study of SDP051 and the product was shown to be safe and well-tolerated. Further development of SDP051 will be pursued by Roche.

SDP051 is one of Abzena's portfolio of 10 clinical-stage Composite Human Antibodies being developed by the group's partners. Abzena has a significant portfolio of license and license option agreements covering these products with many more being evaluated in research programs and in preclinical development.

Abzena has its main operations in Cambridge, U.K. and in San Diego, Calif.