ABLYNX RECEIVES MILESTONE PAYMENT AS COLLABORATOR RECEIVES IND APPROVAL FOR A NANOBODY IN ONCOLOGY

GHENT, Belgium, 2 April 2012 - Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX] today announced
that it has received a EUR400,000 milestone payment from its collaboration with
Novartis. The payment was triggered by the approval of an Investigational New
Drug (IND) application from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the
Phase I clinical trial for a Nanobody® licensed to Novartis. This is the first
development candidate emerging from the licensing agreement between Ablynx and
Novartis.

Ablynx and Novartis entered into a commercial licensing agreement in July 2010,
under which Novartis obtained licenses to develop and commercialise Nanobodies
against two targets (including this one for which an IND has been approved),
which originated from the research agreement between the parties, entered into
in 2005. Since July 2010, Novartis has full responsibility for the continued
progress of both programmes and Ablynx is eligible to receive development-based
milestone payments and royalties on sales following commercialisation of the
products.

Dr Edwin Moses, CEO and Chairman of Ablynx, commented:

"We are excited that Novartis has obtained IND approval and that they will bring
this first Nanobody into clinical development in an oncology setting. This
development candidate demonstrates the power of the Nanobody platform in
addressing complex target classes that are challenging to address with
conventional antibodies."

About Investigational New Drug Application (IND)

An IND is an application that a drug sponsor must submit to U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) before beginning tests of a new drug on humans. The IND
package contains the plan for the study and is supposed to give a complete
picture of the drug, including its structural formula, animal test results and
manufacturing information. The equivalent in Europe is called an Investigational
Medicinal Product Dossier (IMPD).

About Ablynx

Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development
of Nanobodies(®), a novel class of therapeutic proteins based on single-domain
antibody fragments, for a range of serious and life-threatening human diseases,
including inflammation, haematology, oncology and pulmonary disease. Today, the
Company has over 25 programmes in the pipeline and seven Nanobodies at clinical
development stage. Ablynx has ongoing research collaborations and significant
partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies, including Boehringer
Ingelheim, Merck Serono and Novartis. The Company is headquartered in Ghent,
Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com.

For more information, please contact

Ablynx:
Dr Edwin Moses
Chairman and CEO
t:   [phone]
m: [phone] /
     [phone]
e:  [e-mail]

Marieke Vermeersch
Investor Relations Manager
t:   [phone]
m: [phone]
e:  [e-mail]

M:Communications:
Mary-Jane Elliott, Amber Bielecka, Claire Dickinson
t:   [phone]
e:  [e-mail]

Complete version of the press release:
http://hugin.info/137912/R/1598908/504335.pdf

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Source: Ablynx via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1598908]

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