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AnaptysBio Announces Strategic Collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, February 8, 2010 – AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody platform and product company, today announced a strategic collaboration with Merck, through an affiliate, to develop novel antibody therapeutics to an undisclosed disease target.

Under the terms of the agreement, AnaptysBio will be responsible for generating novel antibodies to a specified disease target using its proprietary somatic hypermutation (SHM) technology platform. Merck will receive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize antibodies optimized by AnaptysBio. AnaptysBio has received an upfront sum and is eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties associated with the development and sale of any products derived from the collaboration.

“Our SHM-Platform™ generates antibodies in a human-like manner that recapitulates in the laboratory what the body naturally does when creating antibodies to fight disease. And this is achieved without the constraints and limitations often imposed by the body which can limit success,” said Tom Smart, chairman and chief executive officer for AnaptysBio. “The platform provides a powerful new approach for the generation of antibodies to meet challenging therapeutic design goals.”

About AnaptysBio

Founded in 2005, AnaptysBio, Inc is a privately-held therapeutic antibody product company and the leader in the use of somatic hypermutation, or SHM, for antibody discovery and optimization. SHM is the body's natural process for generating potent antibodies to fight disease. The Company's SHM-Platform™ utilizes the key components of SHM and other state-of-the-art techniques such as mammalian cell expression/display and flow cytometry to generate antibodies for therapeutic applications through an iterative process of natural evolution and high-throughput selection – a process that has been referred to as "naturalizing" antibodies. This versatile platform can be used both to discover and optimize antibodies directed at specific disease targets and also affinity mature existing antibodies to improve their binding properties. The company has established broad intellectual property around the use of SHM for therapeutic antibody applications, and is currently building a pipeline of novel therapeutic antibody product candidates. For more information, visit www.anaptysbio.com.

Forward-Looking Statement for Merck & Co., Inc.

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. The forward-looking statements may include statements regarding product development, product potential, or financial performance. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual results may differ materially from those projected. Merck undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this booklet should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Merck's business, particularly those mentioned in the risk factors and cautionary statements in Item 1A of Merck's Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2008, and in any risk factors or cautionary statements contained in the Company's periodic reports on Form 10-Q or current reports on Form 8-K, which the Company incorporates by reference.

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