Diosynth Biotechnology Enters into License Agreement with Selexis SA to Use
SURE Technology Platform for Commercial Cell Line Development
Geneva, Switzerland – May 2, 2006 - Selexis SA, a Swiss-based biotechnology company specializing in high yield and stable cell line development for therapeutic proteins, announced today that it has entered into a non-exclusive commercial license agreement with Diosynth Biotechnology (“Diosynth”) under which Diosynth will have the rights to use the Selexis SURE Technology Platform to commercially develop mammalian cell lines for protein therapeutics.
“We feel that the technology will help Diosynth customers move from ‘process to protein’ significantly faster, with stable and higher yield cell lines,” said Dr. Igor Fisch, CEO of Selexis. “We are very pleased by Diosynth’s decision to use Selexis’ SURE Technology Platform.”
Under the terms of the license agreement, Diosynth will have the right to use the SURE Technology Platform to develop mammalian cell lines for the research, development and manufacturing of recombinant protein therapeutics. Selexis will continue to upgrade the technology platform as future generations are released. The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Selexis’ SURE Technology Platform, which includes the patented MARtech™, is a unique technology that improves the speed, yield and stability of production cell lines used for therapeutic protein manufacturing. Based on proprietary human MAR (Matrix Attachment Region), MARtech™ enables cell population generation in just four weeks (after transfection) and stable cell line development in ten weeks (after transfection to first round of cell cloning). Additionally, MARtech™ has been found to significantly increase recombinant protein expression in mammalian cells in suspension and in serum-free up to twenty fold.
About Selexis
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Selexis is a privately held biotechnology company
dedicated to the development of innovative technologies and expert services. Selexis offers
comprehensive and rapid solutions for the development of stable, high yield mammalian cell lines
used in recombinant protein manufacturing. The Company’s unique SURE Technology Platform,
which includes Selexis’ forth generation patented MARtech™, reduces traditional cell line
development (DHFR) from 12 months to 3 months (after transfection to isolating cell clones)
without any change in the scale-up process. For more information please visit
http://www.selexis.com
MARtech™ is a trademark of Selexis, SA.
About Diosynth Biotechnology
Diosynth Biotechnology supplies contract manufacturing services for the global biotechnology
industry. The company has an 80-year heritage in biologics manufacturing and is a global leader
in technology-driven process development and cGMP manufacturing of recombinant proteins,
monoclonal antibodies and peptides. We help our customers succeed by developing scalable and
robust processes and by driving products efficiently, rapidly and cost-effectively from preclinical
development to market supply. Diosynth Biotechnology serves pharmaceutical and
biopharmaceutical customers globally and operates FDA-, Health Canada- and EMEA-inspected
cGMP manufacturing facilities in Research Triangle Park, NC USA, and Oss, the Netherlands.
Diosynth Biotechnology is a division of Akzo Nobel's human healthcare business unit Organon.
The Akzo Nobel Safe Harbor Statement (below) applies to this press release. For more information: http://www.diosynthbiotechnology.com