SYnAbs would like to make a public commitment to professional equality between women and men. With the support of my Board of Directors, I am making this cause a priority in our strategic plan for the coming years, and I am pleased that a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) has been established at SynAbs, which is fully in line with the European Commission's directives.

It should be noted that the formality of the gender equality plan has not prevented SynAbs and its management from always being in line with the changes in our society, voluntarily integrating and promoting women in its structure regardless of their economic origin, sexual orientation, culture, religion or membership in any ethnic group, with equal pay to men and at all levels of the organization.

Launching the GEP today will only reinforce my strong belief in equality, diversity and inclusion while engaging all of our employees in an on-going, continuous improvement process to identify and remove barriers to the career development of women scientists.

This policy is essential in order to guarantee all our employees, women and men, attractive career development while responding to the human health issues of which SYnAbs is an active stakeholder.

Diversity and inclusion are the work of everyone. We see it as an opportunity and we thrive on it, in the interest of our company, the quality of our research work, but also as human beings.

Julien Isoard

SYnAbs' Gender Equality Action Plan 2022-2023 aims to implement strategies and actions to improve gender equality and diversity within our company.

Our company recognizes that gender inequality can be compounded by other forms of disadvantage or discrimination that women may experience because of age, disability, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and other attributes such as family and socioeconomic background.

SYnAbs is committed to improving gender equality within its structure and recognizes that its promotion and implementation is a shared responsibility within society. Gender equality prevents violence against women and is essential for economic prosperity. Inclusive organizations have been shown to have higher performance, more innovation, better customer service and more satisfied employees.

According to a study by Deloitte ("Diversity and Inclusion", January 2020), companies that practice an inclusive policy generate up to 30% more revenue per employee and higher profitability than their competitors.

The Boston Consulting Group study "Inclusive Cultures Have Healthier and Happier Workers," conducted with 16,000 people in 16 countries, found that an inclusive corporate culture results in a sense of inclusion and satisfaction, increased productivity and engagement, which generates 19% more innovation, and higher margins than other companies.

The GEP is intended to integrate multiple levels of action and foster a systemic approach to promoting gender equality in SYnAbs. To increase the GEP's potential, and given the importance of creating a broad consensus to support its implementation, the GEP will be accompanied by the appointment of an Equal Opportunity Officer, a detailed communication plan, a clear and transparent data collection system, and the promotion of awareness of equality and unconscious bias among staff members.

SYnAbs was founded in 2015 as a Belgian spin-off from the Catholic University of Louvain la Neuve (UCL) in Belgium, based on the work of Professor Hervé Bazin, inventor of the world's first rat myeloma cell line.

SYnAbs' vision is to fill the market gap for innovative monoclonal antibodies against weakly immunogenic compounds and complex antigens that are highly conserved across species. By targeting transmembrane proteins (GPCRs, ion channels, transporters), steroids, small molecules, toxins, lipids and polysaccharides, SYnAbs has developed a strong expertise in immunology by disrupting immunotolerance in the proprietary rat-LOU species in order to generate unique monoclonal antibodies with extreme specificity and very high affinity.

To meet the challenge of producing innovative monoclonals against haptens and membrane proteins, SYnAbs has developed a set of technologies, combining:

• an unique antigen design via assets such as the SYnDNA plasmid, SYnCell syngeneic cell lines, or an innovative KLH conjugation technique,
• a proprietary high efficiency adjuvant,
• multi-species immunization in the proprietary rat-LOU species, but also Knock-out, NZB, and several transgenic species, including the ATX-Gx mouse platform from Alloy Therapeutics
• immunization pathways and schemes to break immune tolerance and reveal specific epitopes
• selection and isolation of rare B-cell populations.

These technologies ensure the generation of antibodies benefiting from natural in-vivo maturation and targeting antigens that are difficult to express in their native and functionally active conformation.

The unique expertise of SYnAbs team has enabled us to generate unique monoclonal antibodies on the market, bringing added value in the fields of cancer immunotherapy, endocrinology and autoimmune diseases such as:

• LO-CD2, rat anti-human CD2 antibody, licensed to BioTransplant, MedImmune, AstraZeneca and then ITBMed now known as Siplizumab
• LO-VP, a rat anti-valproic acid antibody with the highest affinity for this target in the world,
• SYnCCR8, a mouse antibody that antagonizes the GPCR CCR8
• SYnC3aR, a first-in-class mouse antibody blocking the GPCR C3aR.

SYnAbs is currently certified for Research Tax Credit and ISO9001/2015.

In accordance with the requirements of the European Horizon program "Horizon Europe Guidance on Gender Equality Plans", SYnAbs wishes to act on six specific objectives in the areas recommended by Europe*:

1) Raise awareness of gender equality and unconscious bias

2) Improve work-life balance

3) Improving gender balance in decision-making positions

4) Move towards gender equality in recruitment and career advancement

5) Promote and support gender mainstreaming in research and innovation

6) Fighting against gender-based and sexual violence

In order to implement a gender equality policy in research and innovation, two levels of approach are needed: on the one hand, to help management and researchers to address any difficulties regarding parity and individual progression, and on the other hand, to support structural changes in favour of equity, diversity and inclusion.

*European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation,

Horizon Europe guidance on gender equality plans,

Publications Office of the European Union, 2021 https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/876509

• Goal: To make all SYnAbs staff, both new and existing, aware that gender equality, diversity and inclusion are a priority for our company.

• Means implemented: communication about the GEP to all staff, and provision of a copy of the GEP to newly hired staff upon their arrival at the same time as the handover of the work rules. Provide a dedicated person (referent) to answer any questions new employees may have once the document is handed out.

• Key indicators: number of staff members who received a copy of the PMG and number of inconsistencies found in the GEP (e.g., questions about clarity, misunderstanding of wording, missing information).