Aptamer Group plc announced the signing of two significant contracts for the development of Optimer binders, with a combined total value of up to £235,000. The first contract, valued at up to £175,000, is with a top five pharmaceutical company. As part of this contract, Aptamer will develop Optimer binders for use in immunohistochemistry (IHC) applications.

There is potential for the Optimer binders to utilise the Company's recently patented Optimer-Fc platform to deliver advanced IHC reagents for improved performance and use in automated IHC workflows. Following development, the binders could be integrated into companion diagnostics or as critical reagents to support the top five partner's drug development pipeline, resulting in downstream royalties and/or Licensing revenues for Aptamer. This agreement represents the sixth contract with this pharmaceutical partner for Optimer development across multiple applications, highlighting its confidence in the Optimer platform.

The second contract, valued at up to £60,000, is with a global provider of specialty enzymes used widely throughout the life sciences sector, in a $9.9 billion market, growing at 8.6% CAGR. Aptamer will develop Optimer binders as novel reagents to be incorporated into the partner's life science and diagnostic assay kits. Through a non-exclusive licence for the developed Optimer, Aptamer Group will earn milestone payments upon successful commercialisation and downstream high single digit royalties from the gross sales of all kits containing the developed Optimer.

Sales could commence as early as 2025.