[caption id="attachment_9277" align="alignleft" width="1079"] Press Release[/caption] On December 30, 2019, Aridis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the ?Company?) announced the development of a novel monoclonal antibody (?mAb?) discovery, antibody production and yield maximizing technology called APEX TM and a collaboration with Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc, a company incorporated in the U.S. (?MappBio?). APEX TM is a technology suite comprising of a monoclonal antibody discovery platform technology that enables the screening and single cell cloning of antibody producing B-cells using microarrays (?APEX TM NanoArrays?), a proprietary mAb cell line technology called BREATH TM CHO that enables gene editing-assisted gene swapping of the candidate antibody genes with endogenous versions to generate a high mAb productivity cell line, and a gene editing-based technology to activate endogenous genes in antibody production cell lines to increase mAb production. A schematic representation of APEX TM is shown in figure below APEX TM builds upon the Company?s original hybridoma-based technology platform, MabIgX ?, which allows for rapid fusion and production of mAbs directly from patients antibody-producing B-cells. MappBio agreed to enter into research collaborations with the Company whereby the Company will apply its APEX TM technology to develop mAb productivity enhanced versions of an undisclosed number of CHO cell lines that were originally developed by MappBio. The information in this Item 7.01 shall not be deemed ?filed? for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the ?Exchange Act?), or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as expressly set forth by specific reference in such a filing