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Leiden/Utrecht, The Netherlands, 30 June 2000 --- IntroGene BV and U-BiSys BV today announced the merger of the two companies. The two companies will together be called Crucell, and will have 150 employees. Financial details were not disclosed. IntroGene's President and Chief Executive Officer, Dinko Valerio, Ph.D. will lead Crucell as President and Chief Executive Officer. Ton Logtenberg, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of U-BiSys will serve as Chief Scientific Officer for Crucell.
Crucell will integrate IntroGene's existing human cell line expression platform, PER.C6(TM), and U-BiSys' phage antibody-display library technology, which enables the creation of fully human monoclonal antibodies, thus forming a powerful platform for the discovery of drug targets, and the development and production of human biopharmaceuticals. PER.C6(TM) has been widely adopted by the pharmaceutical industry, with licensing agreements signed with Merck & Co. Inc., Glaxo Wellcome/SmithKline Beecham, Novartis (through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Systemix), Aventis Pharmaceuticals Products Inc., Schering AG (Berlex Biosciences), Genzyme Corporation, Pfizer/Warner Lambert, Transgene SA, Oxford BioMedica (UK) Ltd., BioHeart Inc., and ML Therapeutics Ltd./Cobra. U-BiSys' phage antibody-display and antibody engineering technologies will significantly complement IntroGene's applications of PER.C6(TM). This combination of technologies provides the ability to produce fully human monoclonal antibodies in a human cell line, which puts Crucell in a unique position in the industry.
Crucell will continue to license its core technologies to commercial partners and enter into strategic alliances in exchange for fees, milestone payments and royalties on products developed using such technologies. In addition, Crucell will utilize its core technologies for the development of proprietary products in the therapeutic areas of cancer, infectious diseases (vaccines) and cardiovascular diseases.
"This is truly a merger out of strength. It leverages the enormous synergy between the two companies, both in technology and in the culture and people", commented Dr Valerio. "Our combined management teams possess extensive experience in research, development, manufacturing, business development, and intellectual property. As an innovator in human expression platforms, Crucell will be positioned to fully realize the potential of the phage antibody-display and antibody engineering technologies. It will expand our business by maximizing opportunities for our partners, and by developing our own products".
"We are very pleased to be joining forces with IntroGene which will enable us to integrate our monoclonal antibody business with an extremely valuable technology", said Dr Logtenberg. "U-BiSys has pioneered phage antibody-display to select human antibodies against specific targets. By using PER.C6(TM) we expect to develop superior human antibodies compared to antibodies developed with the conventional rodent expression platforms. The proven capabilities of PER.C6(TM) will make our development process more versatile and rapid. Producing human monoclonal antibodies in a human cell line is an innovative and essential step to further improve these biopharmaceuticals. This merger has enormous strategic value for both companies, and it will enable us to accelerate the development of our products".
Crucell will be headquartered in the Leiden BioScience Park. It operates a cGMP manufacturing and will open its new 4,000m2 facility later this year.
In 1999, IntroGene entered into a 50/50 joint venture, Galapagos Genomics, with the Belgian robotics/bio-informatics company, Tibotec. Galapagos, a functional genomics company, utilizes the PER.C6 platform to discover the function of genes with the aim to identify novel drug targets.
To date, IntroGene and U-BiSys have collectively raised approximately Euro 50 million from leading international venture capital firms that include 3i(UK), ABN-AMRO Participaties BV (NL), Advent International Inc. (US), Alta Partners (US), Atlas Venture BV (NL), BFV (Flanders Biotech Fund, Belgium), GIMV (Belgium), Kleinwort Benson Ltd. (UK), Life Science Partners BV (NL), Merifin Capital BV (Netherlands), NPM Capital NV (NL).
Goldman Sachs International acted as financial adviser to IntroGene BV and U-BiSys BV.
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