SAN DIEGO, CA -- 11/03/09 --
Calmune Corporation, a privately held
biotechnology company developing novel antibodies to address unmet clinical
needs, announced today that it has established an exclusive research
collaboration with Crucell N.V. (EURONEXT: CRXL) (NASDAQ: CRXL) (SWISS: CRX), a global biopharmaceutical company based in Leiden, the Netherlands,
focusing on research development, production and marketing of vaccines,
proteins and antibodies that prevent and/or treat infectious diseases.
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Under this collaboration, Calmune will use SEBVI(TM), a proprietary
technology to prepare a panel of potent, high-affinity human monoclonal
antibodies (hMabs) against a pre-defined, undisclosed infectious disease
target. Crucell will have the option to exclusively license these hMabs for
further evaluation as development candidates, and to develop any that meet
its required profile. Calmune will receive payments from Crucell at
different stages of the discovery and development process, as well as a
royalty on sales of products that incorporate antibodies generated by
Calmune.
By exploiting the power of the human immune response, Calmune's SEBVI(TM)
technology allows natural, high-affinity, fully human antibodies against
microbial targets to be efficiently recovered from Epstein Barr
virus-transformed memory B cells.
Dr. Jaap Goudsmit, Chief Scientific Officer of Crucell, said, "Calmune's
demonstrated technological expertise in the generation of potent human
monoclonal antibodies is a valuable complement to Crucell's existing
research programs and opens the door to the development of new therapeutics
for infectious diseases."
Dr. Anthony Williamson, CEO of Calmune, and Dr. Dennis Burton, Chairman of
the Board, commented in a joint statement, "We are delighted to be working
together with Crucell, which has an established commitment to developing
and marketing therapeutic antibodies against infectious diseases. This
collaboration is an important external endorsement of our technology, and
we are confident we will be able to deliver candidate antibodies that meet
Crucell's requirements. We would like to gratefully acknowledge the support
of Tilocor, our principal investor, towards Calmune's emergence as an
innovative therapeutic antibody company."
About Calmune
Calmune Corporation is a privately held biotechnology company developing
antibody therapeutics to address unmet clinical needs. The company was
founded in 2006 in San Diego, California, by three members of The Scripps
Research Institute. Calmune has two novel technology platforms that provide
a rapid means to recover high affinity, fully-human antibodies, and to
create novel antibodies with unique structural modifications for targeting
hypoimmunogenic epitopes. Calmune has received financing from its principal
investor, Tilocor Life Science. Calmune has a growing pipeline of
early-stage product candidates in several therapeutic areas. For more
information, please see www.calmune.com.
About Tilocor Life Science
Tilocor Life Science provides financial support for the Tilocor Group's
newly created companies, acquisitions and investments. Co-founded by
Professor Stefan Catsicas, former Vice-President of the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology (Lausanne), Tilocor promotes an entrepreneurial
approach adapted to the long-term needs of the life science sector.
Currently, Tilocor companies focus on infectious diseases, inflammation and
cancer with specific therapeutic agents that include human antibodies,
intracellular peptides and small chemical entities.
www.tilocor.com
About Crucell
Crucell N.V. (EURONEXT: CRXL) (NASDAQ: CRXL) (SWISS: CRX) is a global
biopharmaceutical company focused on research development, production and
marketing of vaccines, proteins and antibodies that prevent and/or treat
infectious diseases. Its vaccines are sold in public and private markets
worldwide. Crucell's core portfolio includes a vaccine against hepatitis B,
a fully-liquid vaccine against five important childhood diseases and a
virosome-adjuvanted vaccine against influenza. Crucell also markets travel
vaccines, such as the only oral anti-typhoid vaccine, an oral cholera
vaccine and the only aluminum-free hepatitis A vaccine on the market. The
Company has a broad development pipeline, with several product candidates
based on its unique PER.C6® production technology. The Company licenses
its PER.C6® technology and other technologies to the biopharmaceutical
industry. Important partners and licensees include DSM Biologics,
sanofi-aventis, Novartis, Wyeth, GSK, CSL and Merck & Co. Crucell is
headquartered in Leiden, the Netherlands, with subsidiaries in Switzerland,
Spain, Italy, Sweden, Korea, UK and the U.S. The Company employs over 1200
people. For more information, please visit www.crucell.com.
For further information pertaining to Calmune, please contact:
Calmune
Anthony Williamson
Chief Executive Officer
T. +1 858 657 0283
Email Contact
Dynamics Group
Christophe Lamps
T. +41 22 308 62 22
M. +41 79 476 26 87
Email Contact
For US media
Linnden Communications
Michelle Linn
T. +1 508-362-3087
M. +1 774-696-3803
Email Contact
