Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Enters into License Agreement with Selexis SA to Use SURE Technology Platform for Cell Line Development
Merrimack will Use Selexis Technology for the Research, Development and Manufacturing of Therapeutic Candidates
Geneva, Switzerland – May 30, 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 R&D and manufacturing license agreement with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Merrimack”) under which Merrimack will have the rights to use Selexis’ SURE Technology Platform to research, develop and manufacture mammalian cell lines for protein therapeutic candidates.
“Selexis’ technology is a perfect fit for Merrimack’s philosophy of efficient drug discovery and development,” said Dr. Igor Fisch, CEO of Selexis.
Under the terms of the license agreement, Merrimack will have the right to internally use the SURE Technology Platform to develop mammalian cell lines for the research, development and manufacturing of Merrimack therapeutic candidates. 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 10 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 20 fold.
“We believe that the SURE platform technology has the potential to help us to speed up the process of developing and manufacturing our innovative biopharmaceuticals” said Mark Moody, Ph.D., Director of Manufacturing Operations at Merrimack.
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
About Merrimack Pharmaceuticals
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and
development of novel treatments for diseases in the areas of autoimmune disease and cancer. Its
lead compound, MM-093, is currently in clinical development to treat patients with rheumatoid
arthritis or with psoriasis. MM-093 is an investigational drug and has not been approved by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any international regulatory agency. The Company's
proprietary Network Biology discovery platform, developed in concert with leading scientists from
MIT and Harvard, enables the high throughput profiling of protein networks as a basis for
improved validation, lead identification and speed in the development of innovative, effective and
safe therapeutics. For additional information, please visit http://www.merrimackpharma.com