New agreements for manufacturing of monoclonal antibody products
BioInvent extends collaboration with Igeneon New agreements for manufacturing of monoclonal antibody products Lund, Sweden: BioInvent International AB (SAX:BINV) today announces the extended collaboration with Igeneon AG, Austria, concerning the cGMP manufacturing of antibody-based drug candidates within the cancer immunotherapy field. Under the new agreement BioInvent will perform large-scale cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) cell cultivation and purification of the antibody used as a vaccine antigen in IGN101. BioInvent has successfully manufactured another Igeneon therapeutic antibody, IGN311. This agreement has recently been extended. - The relation with Igeneon has developed very well. The new agreements mean a deepening of the collaboration between our two companies, both concerning business volume and the number of products that we work with, comments Svein Mathisen, CEO of BioInvent. The indication for both product candidates is epithelial cancer. IGN101 is intended as a cancer vaccine and is currently in Phase II-III clinical trials. IGN311 is developed for passive immunotherapy of epithelial carcinomas, and will shortly enter Phase I trials. -- END-- For more information please contact BioInvent International AB Buchanan Communications Svein Mathisen Nicola How President and CEO Tel: +44 20 7466 5000 Tel: +46 46 286 85 67 Mobile: +46 708 97 82 13 E-mail: svein.mathisen@bioinvent.com Notes to Editors: BioInvent International AB, listed on the O-list of the Swedish Exchange, is a biotechnology company devoted to providing state-of-the- art antibody technology to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. A cornerstone is its proprietary human antibody gene library, n-CoDeR(TM). This is a collection of more than ten billion functional antibody genes that are ready to be screened against desired antigens. n-CoDeR(TM) has been used successfully for the isolation of antibody fragments with specificity for a number of antigens, including peptides, proteins and carbohydrates. BioInvent offers biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies access to n-CoDeR(TM) through collaborative research and development programs. BioInvent's capabilities in large-scale contract manufacturing of protein-based drugs through a state-of-the-art cGMP-certified facility further underpin its competitiveness in the antibody arena. BioInvent has been supplying monoclonal antibodies, fusion proteins and other recombinant proteins to the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for therapeutic use since 1988. These antibodies and proteins are used in all phases of clinical trials in both the US and across Europe. The cGMP-certified manufacturing facility is designed to meet FDA and EU regulations from early clinical development to commercial scale-up, with multi-kilogram annual capacity. BioInvent is headquartered in Lund, Sweden, employing a total of 130 people. For further information, see www.bioinvent.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/09/25/20030925BIT01020/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/09/25/20030925BIT01020/wkr0002.pdf