Focus On HBV therapeutic Vaccine Development

kuka

Licensing Agreement Will Focus On Vaccine Development

NewsRx.com
July 31, 2002

Dutch antibody and vaccine company Crucell N.V. (CRXL) and Genexine Co., Ltd., a Korean drug development company, announced that they have entered into a licensing agreement wherein Crucell's PER.C6 cell line will be used by Genexine for the research, development, and manufacture of a recombinant therapeutic vaccine against hepatitis B.
Under the terms of the agreement, Genexine obtains a worldwide nonexclusive license for the use of Crucell's PER.C6 cell line to research and develop a therapeutic vaccine against hepatitis B. Furthermore, the agreement includes the option for a commercial license. Crucell will receive upfront and annual payments; further financial details were not disclosed.

"400 million individuals world-wide are hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers running the risk of developing cirrhosis and eventually liver cancer. It has recently been shown in an animal model that a vector-based vaccine may be able to reduce the HBV viremia. This makes the current agreement with Genexine, for the development of an adeno-vector based vaccine produced on PER.C6 cells, very valuable for Crucell", comments Jaap Goudsmit, chief medical officer of Crucell. "Crucell launched PER.C6 as a vaccine platform through a licensing agreement with Merck & Co. for its HIV vaccine. We are now expanding our PER.C6 business in the field of vaccines. The contract with Genexine, together with an agreement signed earlier this year with Rhein Biotech for a Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, endorses our strategy."

"Hepatitis B is one of the major infectious diseases affecting people throughout Asia. The need for an effective vaccine that can treat, as well as prevent, hepatitis B infections is paramount", said Sung, chief technology officer of Genexine. "Crucell's PER.C6 human cell line provides the perfect platform for the research and development of a therapeutic, adenovirus DNA vaccine." This article was prepared by Hepatitis Weekly editors from staff and other reports.

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Copyright 2002, Hepatitis Weekly via NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net

liver411

When will be in clinical trials?

kuka

now I don't konw,I will follow the news.