Leiden, The Netherlands - March 22, 2005 - Dutch biotechnology company Crucell N.V. (Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL) today announced the signing of a commercial PER.C6® license agreement with Singapore-based company SingVax Pte Ltd for the development and commercialisation of new vaccines against Japanese encephalitis.

 

Under the agreement, SingVax will focus on the development and commercialisation of a Japanese encephalitis vaccine for the endemic population as well as for travellers to the Asia Pacific region.

 

Crucell will receive upfront, annual and milestone payments under the agreement, as well as royalties on product sales. In addition, Crucell will have a preferred position to negotiate marketing rights outside the Asia Pacific Region with respect to a traveller's vaccine that may be developed under the agreement in case SingVax make such a product available for licensing. Further details of the agreement were not disclosed.

 

About Crucell

Crucell N.V. is a biotechnology company focused on developing vaccines and antibodies that prevent and treat infectious diseases, including Ebola, influenza, malaria, West Nile virus and rabies. The company's development programs include collaborations with Sanofi Pasteur for influenza vaccines, the U.S. National Institutes of Health for Ebola and malaria vaccines, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and New York University for a malaria vaccine. Crucell's products are based on its innovative PER.C6® technology, which offers a safer, more efficient way to produce biopharmaceuticals. The company licenses its PER.C6® technology to the biopharmaceutical industry on a mostly non-exclusive basis. Licensees and partners include DSM Biologics, GSK, Centocor/J&J and Merck & Co., Inc. Crucell is headquartered in Leiden, The Netherlands, and is listed on the Euronext and NASDAQ stock exchanges (ticker symbol CRXL). For more information, please visit www.crucell.com.