Oxford BioMedica and Viragen announced a license agreement for Oxford BioMedica's LentiVector gene delivery technology
The agreement provides Viragen with worldwide exclusive rights to utilize the proprietary LentiVector technology in its collaboration with Roslin Institute (Scotland) to develop Avian Transgenic Technology as a novel platform for the efficient and economical manufacturing of therapeutic proteins in chicken eggs.
Under the agreement, Oxford BioMedica receives an upfront license fee and annual maintenance payments.
In addition, Oxford BioMedica will receive milestone payments on the achievement of technical goals by Viragen and royalties on commercialisation of the Avian Transgenic Technology.
Further financial details were not disclosed.
Viragen and Roslin Institute have conducted preliminary studies evaluating Oxford BioMedica's LentiVector technology which have yielded promising results, demonstrating the ability to generate transgenic generations with an efficiency on the order of 10 to 100-fold higher than any previously published methods.
"Manufacturing protein-based drugs through an avian transgenic expression system should offer certain advantages to traditional production systems - likely in terms of speed, efficiency and cost," stated Viragen's CEO, Charles Rice.
"As indicated in a recent press release, results to date have been exceptional and warrant our licensing the exclusive rights to the LentiVector system for our avian transgenics programme.
"We are hopeful that continuing progress will confirm the commercial significance of this approach".
Oxford BioMedica's CEO, Professor Alan Kingsman, added, "Viragen's Avian Transgenics Program has made substantial progress over the past two years and we are delighted that Oxford BioMedica's LentiVector technology has contributed to this success.
"We look forward to further developments following the signing of this agreement."
