Crucell Announces PER.C6® Licensing Agreement with Acambis
Leiden, The Netherlands, November 20, 2007- Dutch biotechnology
company Crucell N.V. (Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL; Swiss Exchange: CRX)
and Acambis plc (London Stock Exchange: ACM) today announced the
signing of a research license agreement for PER.C6®. The license
agreement allows Acambis to use Crucell's PER.C6® technology for an
undisclosed vaccine candidate. Financial details of the agreement
were not disclosed.
About PER.C6® Technology
Crucell's PER.C6® technology is a cell line developed for the
large-scale manufacture of biopharmaceutical products including
vaccines. The production scale potential of the PER.C6® cell line has
been demonstrated in an unprecedented successful bioreactor run of
20,000 liters. Compared to conventional production technologies, the
strengths of the PER.C6® technology lie in its excellent safety
profile, scalability and productivity under serum-free culture
conditions. These characteristics, combined with its ability to
support the growth of both human and animal viruses, make the PER.C6®
technology the biopharmaceutical production technology of choice for
Crucell's current and potential pharmaceutical and biotechnology
partners.
About Crucell
Crucell N.V. (Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL; Swiss Exchange: CRX) is a
biotechnology company focused on research, development and worldwide
marketing of vaccines and antibodies that prevent and 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
aluminium-free hepatitis A vaccine on the market. The Company has a
broad pipeline, with several products based on its unique PER.C6®
production technology in development. The Company licenses this and
other technologies to the biopharmaceutical industry. Important
partners and licensees include DSM Biologics, sanofi aventis,
Novartis, Wyeth and Merck & Co. Crucell is headquartered in Leiden
(the Netherlands), with subsidiaries in Switzerland, Spain, Italy,
Sweden, Korea and the US. The Company employs over a 1000 people. For
more information, please visit www.crucell.com
About Acambis
Acambis is a leading vaccine company developing novel vaccines that
address significant unmet medical needs or substantially improve
standards of care. Its leading development-stage programme, a
Japanese encephalitis vaccine, has completed pivotal Phase 3 trials
and is partnered with Sanofi Pasteur and Bharat Biotech. Acambis'
pipeline also includes has the most advanced West Nile vaccine in
development, on which it has a collaboration agreement with Sanofi
Pasteur, the only C. difficile vaccine to have entered clinical
trials and an innovative universal influenza vaccine programme. Its
proprietary ChimeriVax(TM) technology, which was developed in
association with St Louis University, has been applied to the
development of the JE and West Nile vaccines, and also to Sanofi
Pasteur's tetravalent dengue vaccine, which has successfully
demonstrated proof-of-concept in a Phase 2 trial by generating 100%
seroconversion to all four dengue virus serotypes. Acambis is the
leading producer of smallpox vaccines, having produced doses of its
ACAM2000 vaccine for emergency-use stockpiles for the US and several
other governments. ACAM2000 (Smallpox (Vaccinia) Vaccine, Live)
vaccine was licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration in August
2007 for active immunisation against smallpox disease for persons
determined to be at high risk for smallpox infection. For safety and
prescribing information, please refer to www.acambis.com/ACAM2000.
Acambis is based in Cambridge, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts, US,
and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ACM). More information is
available at www.acambis.com.
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve
inherent risks and uncertainties. We have identified certain
important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially
from those contained in such forward-looking statements. For
information relating to these factors please refer to our Form 20-F,
as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 13,
2007, and the section entitled "Risk Factors". The Company prepares
its financial statements under International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS) with reconciliation to the generally accepted
accounting principles in the United States (US GAAP).
For further information please contact:
Media: Investors/Analysts:
Barbara Mulder Oya Yavuz
Director Corporate Communications Director Investor Relations
Tel: +31-(0)71-519 7346 Tel: +31-(0)71-519 7064
press@crucell.com ir@crucell.com
