Celliance Corporation acquires gene expression technology
03 Oct 2005
Celliance Corporation acquires gene expression technology
Nottingham, UK, 3 October 2005 - Innovata plc (LSE: IOV), the product development company focused on respiratory disease and inhaled therapies, today announces that Celliance Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Serologicals Corporation (NASDAQ: SERO), has acquired its UCOE (ubiquitous chromatin opening element) gene expression technology for an undisclosed sum.
UCOEs improve the yield, consistency and stability of protein production in cultured mammalian cells, allowing simpler and quicker generation of proteins at small scale for drug discovery and research, as well as quicker and easier isolation of stable, highly productive cell lines suitable for larger-scale manufacture of protein therapeutics. Further applications of the technology include gene therapy, transgenics and generation of cell lines for drug screening. The technology is under licence to a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in North America, Europe and Japan including Medarex and Maxygen.
The UCOE technology had been identified as non-core to Innovata following a strategic review by its new management team earlier this year. The assets being transferred to Celliance have no book value.
Kieran Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Innovata, commented:
“The divestment of our UCOE gene expression technology is a further step in the refocusing of Innovata on respiratory disease and inhaled therapies. We are pleased to have found a buyer in Celliance, a world leading provider of products and services for the bioprocessing industry, where UCOE has the potential to add significant value to its product offering.”
David L. Bellitt, President of Celliance Corporation, added:
“We are extremely pleased to be able to add the UCOE gene expression technology to our portfolio of bioprocess products for the biotechnology industry. The UCOE technology will augment our cell line development and protein expansion capabilities, thereby improving our customers’ abilities to more efficiently manufacture recombinant proteins in large scale, while aiding in the development of the next generation of our customers’ therapeutic proteins.”
Contacts:
Innovata plc
Tel: 0115 974 474
Kieran Murphy, Chief Executive Officer
Paul Ballington, Director of Marketing & Business Development
Financial Dynamics
Tel: 020 7831 3113
Sarah MacLeod / John Gilbert
Notes to Editors:
About Celliance Corporation
CellianceTM offers an expanding array of bioprocessing products and services including diagnostic products, contract research and manufacturing services, and cell culture media supplements, offering EX-CYTE® the largest selling cell growth supplement, Probumin™, a proprietary line of bovine serum albumin and Incelligent™, the Company’s recombinant human insulin. It is also the world’s leading provider of monoclonal antibodies for the blood typing industry. CellianceTM is a Serologicals company based in Atlanta, GA.
Serologicals Corporation, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a global provider of biological products, enabling technologies and services to a diverse customer base that includes major life science companies and leading research institutions. Our customers use our products, technologies and services in a wide variety of their activities, including basic research, drug discovery, diagnosis and biomanufacturing. Our products, technologies and services are essential tools for research in key disciplines, including neurology, oncology, hematology, immunology, cardiology, proteomics, infectious diseases, cell signaling and molecular biology. In addition, the Company is the world's leading provider of monoclonal antibodies for the blood typing industry. Serologicals has more than 1,000 employees worldwide, and its shares are traded on the NASDAQ national stock market under the symbol SERO.
About Innovata plc
Innovata plc (formerly ML Labs) is a proprietary product development company focused on respiratory disease and inhaled therapies. The Company was relaunched in July 2005 following the acquisition of Quadrant Technologies Ltd. Innovata’s asthma and COPD products are marketed in Europe and Japan by its pharmaceutical and biotechnology company partners, including Merck KGaA, Celltech (part of UCB) and Otsuka. The Company also has a development agreement with an undisclosed pharmaceutical company for a fixed combination asthma therapy and an agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb for the development of inhaled insulin. The Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange with the symbol IOV.
