|
Leiden, The Netherlands, December 18, 2000 - Crucell N.V. (EAX Amsterdam: CRXL; Nasdaq: CRXL), a Netherlands based biotechnology company, today announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with London based Eurogene Limited for access to its PER.C6 technology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Eurogene will license Crucell's PER.C6 adenoviral packaging cell line for research purposes, with an option to convert to a commercial license within five years. In return, Crucell will receive an up-front payment with further annual payments along with royalties on net sales of adenoviral gene therapy products arising from the agreement.
"This is our 14th PER.C6 license agreement, confirming the 'industry standard' position PER.C6 has attained in the field of adenovirus based gene therapy products and vaccines." commented Dinko Valerio, Crucell's President and CEO. "We are excited that not only major pharmaceutical companies, but also an increasing number of top tier biotechnology firms, recognise the importance of our PER.C6 technology. PER.C6's strength is also reflected in the fact that earlier this year, clinical trials were initiated with PER.C6 derived adenoviral vectors. Adenoviral vectors are rapidly gaining importance in the industry, which is reflected by the 55 Investigational New Drug applications that were filed at the FDA this year. We have also noticed this trend having an impact on Crucell's contract manufacturing activities in our cGMP facilities".
Crucell was formed through the merger of IntroGene B.V. and U-BiSys B.V., both from The Netherlands. Crucell combines IntroGene's human cell line platform, PER.C6, with U-BiSys' subtractive phage antibody-display selection technology, called MAbstract, providing a powerful and effective means to discover, develop and produce a variety of biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of human diseases. Crucell's technologies are fully human and, as such, enable biopharmaceuticals to be developed and produced that do not have the limitations inherent in many biopharmaceuticals currently available.
Crucell has licensed its PER.C6 technology to Merck & Co. Inc., GlaxoWellcome, Novartis (through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Systemix), Aventis Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Schering AG, Genzyme Corporation, Pfizer/Warner-Lambert, Oxford BioMedica (UK) Ltd., Bioheart Inc., Cobra Therapeutics Ltd. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of ML Laboratories) and DirectGene Inc. In October 2000, Crucell also entered into an exclusive agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. pursuant to which a license was granted for the PER.C6 platform technology to develop vaccines for the prevention and treatment of one disease, with Merck having the option of extending exclusivity to cover three additional diseases in the future. With its MAbstract technology, Crucell focuses currently on the development of human antibodies as therapeutics for treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
Crucell currently employs 115 people in its facilities in Leiden, Utrecht and Leuven (Belgium).
|
About Us
