CEVEC Signs Global License Agreement for CAP-T with Life Technologies

Cologne, Germany, August 18, 2010 / b3c newswire / – CEVEC Pharmaceuticals, the developer of a novel human protein expression system derived from amniocytes, announced today the signing of a co-exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Life Technologies Corporation, a leading provider of innovative life science solutions based in Carlsbad, California.

Under the terms of the agreement, Life Technologies and CEVEC will co-operate to offer optimized expression kits based on CEVEC’s proprietary CAP-T cells to the global life science research community. Life Technologies will pay CEVEC a signing fee and various milestone payments and royalties on sales of the future products. Further details of the agreement were not disclosed. CEVEC will continue to expand its global license business of the CAP® and CAP-T® technologies for commercial use and industrial development purposes.

CEVEC’s transient CAP-T protein production technology is based on CAP cells, a human immortalized cell line for stable protein production derived from amniocytes. CAP cells are optimized to growth in serum-free suspension cultures and show human-like post-translational modifications including authentic human glycosylation patterns.
Life Technologies combines CEVEC’s proprietary protein expression system based on CAP cells with its tailored protein expression product portfolio (media, transfection reagents etc.) to enable research scientists worldwide to achieve highest yield and quality protein expression.

“We strongly believe in the tremendous value of the co-operation as the global research community is offered a fully optimized human expression system to transiently express proteins with superior yields and authentic human glycosylation patterns,” said Wolfgang Kintzel, CEVEC’s Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director.

“We are extremely proud that Life Technologies has chosen the CAP technology to extend its top notch protein expression product portfolio,” added Dr. Rainer Lichtenberger, CEO of CEVEC.

The immortalized CAP cells are derived from primary human amniocytes and meet highest ethical standards. CAP cells are optimized to grow in a variety of flask/wave formats up to large-scale processing in bioreactors and can be very efficiently transfected with commercially available transfection reagents.

CAP® and CAP-T® are trademarks of CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH, all rights reserved, CAP-T® not yet registered in all territories.


About CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH - www.cevec-pharmaceuticals.com
CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH, operational since 2004 was founded by a group of internationally renowned scientists and clinicians from the University of Cologne. Based on their experience and their longstanding collaborative work, they had perceived a lack of innovative expression systems for more efficient production of biologics such as recombinant proteins or gene therapy vectors. CEVEC’s novel proprietary human CAP® and CAP-T® expression systems are ideal for manufacturing complex and difficult to express biopharmaceutical molecules with authentic human glycosylation patterns. The immortalized cells are derived from primary human amniocytes and meet highest ethical standards. Already adapted to serum-free growth conditions, they can be very efficiently transfected with commercially available transfection reagents and are optimized to grow in a variety of flask/wave formats up to large-scale processing in bioreactors. CEVEC offers flexible licensing arrangements for CAP and CAP-T. Additionally, co-development opportunities are available for selected complex therapeutic proteins made with the CAP Technology to address attractive target markets.

Contact

Wolfgang Kintzel
CCO / Geschäftsführer
CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH
Gottfried-Hagen Straße 62
D-51105 Köln
Germany
Tel. : +49 (0) 221-46 02 08 - 00
Fax: +49 (0) 221-46 02 08 - 01
kintzel@cevec-pharmaceuticals.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 

Pevion Biotech and CEVEC Sign Exclusive License Option Agreement

Cologne, Germany, May 26, 2010 / b3c newswire – CEVEC Pharmaceuticals, the German developer of a novel human expression system derived from amniocytes, announced today the signing of an exclusive license option agreement with Pevion Biotech, the Swiss vaccine company.

The agreement enables Pevion Biotech to exclusively use CEVEC’s transient CAP-T cell expression technology to manufacture and commercialize a protein antigen for vaccination against a wide-spread human infectious disease. Following successful entry into toxicological studies and clinical phases I to III, CEVEC will receive undisclosed milestone payments and additional running royalties after market approval. Further financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

The transient CAP-T protein production technology is based on CAP cells, a human immortalized cell line for stable protein production derived from amniocytes and developed by CEVEC. These non-tumor origin cell lines exhibit high protein expression levels even for difficult to express proteins. They have been adapted to serum-free suspension culture and show post-translational modifications that are human-like, including authentic human glycosylation patterns. The platform allows efficient protein production from research, development and scale up to large scale manufacturing in high-volume bioreactors.

„The signing of this agreement is a major milestone for CEVEC since it represents our first exclusively granted license for a clinically highly relevant protein produced in our CAP cells. We’re proud that Pevion Biotech as one of the most innovative vaccine companies has chosen our CAP Technology expression platform to produce a technically demanding protein that so far remains a challenge to be expressed in standard cells like CHO or HEK 293,“ states Rainer Lichtenberger, CEO of Cevec Pharmaceuticals.

The target protein is part of a vaccine that Pevion Biotech intends to develop based on its proprietary and market-validated virosome technology platform.

About CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH

CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH, operational since 2004 was founded by a group of internationally renowned scientists and clinicians from the University of Cologne. Based on their experience and their longstanding collaborative work, they had perceived a lack of innovative expression systems for more efficient production of biologics such as recombinant proteins or gene therapy vectors. CEVEC’s novel proprietary human CAP® and CAP-T™ expression systems are ideal for manufacturing complex and difficult to express biopharmaceutical molecules with authentic human glycosylation patterns.

Contact:
Wolfgang Kintzel
CCO / Geschäftsführer

CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH
Gottfried-Hagen Straße 62
D-51105 Köln
Germany
Tel. : +49 (0) 221-46 02 08 - 00
Fax : +49 (0) 221-46 02 08 - 01
kintzel@cevec-pharmaceuticals.com

CAP and CAP-T are trademarks of CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH, all rights reserved.

Aragen Bioscience, Inc. and CEVEC Pharmaceuticals Sign License Agreement

Cologne, Germany, April 29, 2010 - CEVEC Pharmaceuticals (“CEVEC”), the developer of a novel human expression system derived from amniocytes, and Aragen Bioscience, Inc. (“Aragen Bioscience”), a California based contract research and development organization, announced today the signing of a strategic license agreement.

This license enables Aragen Bioscience to offer its clients custom recombinant human cell lines expressing biotherapeutic proteins and antibodies as well as the transient and stable production of preclinical and clinical grade material.

The transient CAP-T protein production technology is based on CAP cells, an immortalized cell line for stable protein production developed by CEVEC. These non-tumor origin cell lines exhibit high protein expression, have been adapted to serum-free suspension culture and show post-translational modifications that are human-like, including authentic human glycosylation patterns.

The collaboration couples CEVEC’s novel and proprietary CAP and CAP-T expression systems and cell lines with Aragen Bioscience’s vast experience in cell line and process development to provide biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies worldwide the opportunity to utilize Aragen’s services to gain access to CEVEC’s technology and quickly obtain high quality pre-clinical and clinical grade product generated from stable as well as transiently transfected cell lines.

“We are very proud to win Aragen as an experienced and trusted partner to offer our CAP Technology to a broader audience in the Biotechnology and Pharma sector,“ stated Wolfgang Kintzel, CCO of CEVEC. “Our human amniocyte derived cells offer significant advantages when it comes to complex protein production and we’re excited that Aragen has chosen our technology as a valuable addition to their existing service offerings. The signing of this contract also underlines the growing recognition our technology is receiving in the Life Sciences arena.“

Rick Srigley, CEO of Aragen Bioscience said: “We are very excited about the potential of CEVEC's CAP and CAP-T technology. We believe that human cells will be a superior production system for a variety of complex proteins. CEVEC’s technology is a valuable addition to our existing expression portfolio and will enable our customers to pursue new directions for proteins that were difficult to express in the past or did not show satisfactory posttranslational modifications.”

About CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH
CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH, operational since 2004 was founded by a group of internationally renowned scientists and clinicians from the University of Cologne. Based on their experience and their longstanding collaborative work, they had perceived a lack of innovative expression systems for more efficient production of biologics such as recombinant proteins or gene therapy vectors. CEVEC’s novel proprietary human CAP and CAP-T expression systems are ideal for manufacturing complex biopharmaceutical molecules with human glycosylation patterns.

About Aragen Bioscience, Inc. - www.aragenbio.com
Aragen Bioscience, Inc. is a contract research and development organization in Morgan Hill, California. Aragen specializes in recombinant cell line and hybridoma development, cell culture and protein purification process development and protein production, primary and immortalized cell-based assays, in vivo models of human disease and custom immunological services.

Contacts:
Rick Srigley
CEO
Aragen Bioscience, Inc.
380 Woodview Avenue
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
USA
Tel.: +1 408-779-1700
Fax: +1 408-779-1711
rsrigley@aragenbio.com
www.aragenbio.com

Wolfgang Kintzel
CCO / Geschäftsführer
CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH
Gottfried-Hagen Straße 62
D-51105 Köln
Germany
Tel. : +49 (0) 221-46 02 08 – 00
Fax : +49 (0) 221-46 02 08 – 01
kintzel@cevec-pharmaceuticals.com
www.cevec-pharmaceuticals.com

CAP and CAP-T are trademarks of CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH, all rights reserved.
 

Inno Biologics and CEVEC Sign License Agreement for Human CAP Technology

Cologne, Germany, December 08, 2009 / b3c newswire – The developer of a novel human expression system derived from amniocytes “CEVEC Pharmaceuticals” and the contract manufacturer Inno Biologics Sdn Bhd, Malaysia, announced today the signing of a strategic license agreement. This license enables Inno Biologics to offer the full potential of production of their diagnostic and preclinical grade material in highest quality with authentic human glycosylation patterns using the novel and proprietary CAP expression system.
For more information please download PDF.

CEVEC Raises €4M to Finance Strong Growth of Human CAP Technology

Cologne, Germany, November 03, 2009 / b3c newswire – CEVEC Pharmaceuticals, specializing in the development of complex therapeutic proteins based on the human CAP® Technology, today announced the closing of a €4M financing round. Creathor Venture Fonds and NRW.BANK led this round which included the participation from current investors and a group of private and institutional investors including the venture capital branch of Sparkasse KoelnBonn, and ERP Startfonds of KfW bank, both Germany. The funding provides CEVEC with adequate means to continue the global commercialization of the proprietary CAP Technology platform.
For more information please download PDF.

InVivo and CEVEC Pharmaceuticals Sign License Agreement Regarding the Use of Human CAP-T Technology for Production of Recombinant Proteins

Cologne, Germany, October 01, 2009 / b3c newswire - CEVEC Pharmaceuticals, the developer of a novel human expression system derived from amniocytes and the contract manufacturer InVivo BioTech Services GmbH announced today the signing of a strategic license agreement. This license enables InVivo to offer its customers the production of their diagnostic and preclinical grade material very fast and in highest quality, including authentic human glycosylation patterns, using the novel and proprietary CAP-T transient expression system.
For more information please download PDF.

CEVEC to Launch CAP-T Cell System – Industry’s State of the Art Human Transient Expression Technology

Cologne, Germany, March 5, 2009 - CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH, specializing in the development of complex therapeutic proteins using proprietary human cell-based expression systems, introduces novel CAP-T transient expression system for fast, serum-free and high yield protein production. CAP-T Technology is the logic result of today’s demand towards creating an efficient, integrated platform for transient production of complex biologics.
For more information please download PDF.

Drug Development Program Started Based on Human Cell Line. New Platform May Provide Solutions for Many RA-Patients around the World

Cologne, Germany, February 25, 2009 - Alloksys Life Sciences BV (Bunnik, The Netherlands), CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH (Cologne, Germany) and PharmaCell BV (Maastricht, The Netherlands) announce the start of Theraptech, a 2.4 million Euro therapeutic protein development program subsidized under the European Trans Bio Program. The major objective of the Theraptech project is to develop a recombinant human alkaline phosphatase (rhuAP) using the novel versatile human CAP cell line, which has been shown to efficiently express glycosylated proteins.
For more information please download PDF.

New CEO at CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH

Cologne, Germany, October 1st, 2008 - CEVEC Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of complex therapeutic proteins using their proprietary human cell expression systems, appointed Rainer Lichtenberger Ph.D., MBA as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Rainer Lichtenberger will replace Prof. Stefan Kochanek, one of the founders of the company, who led the company as interim CEO for nearly half a year and will continue to serve as one of the advisory board members.
For more information please download PDF.

CEVEC Again Successful in Challenge to Crucell Patent

Cologne, Germany, January 10, 2008 - CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH, the specialist supplier for human expression technologies, today announced that an opposition to a patent owned by Crucell N.V., Leiden, Netherlands (Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL, Swiss Exchange: CRX), before the European Patent Office was again successful. This is the second time within a year that the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office (EPO) has restricted a patent on Crucell’s PER.C6 cell line.
For more information please download PDF.