gsk bought out crxa last year for their adjuvant.
Press Release Source: Antigenics Inc.
Antigenics Announces Expansion of Its License and Supply Agreement With GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals for QS-21 Stimulon(R) Adjuvant
Monday July 10, 8:30 am ET
Conference Call to be Held Today at 9:30 a.m. ET
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 10, 2006--Antigenics Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN - News) today announced that the company has signed expanded license and supply agreements for the use of QS-21 Stimulon® adjuvant with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, a vaccine division of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). QS-21 is a key component included in several of GSK's proprietary adjuvant systems. A number of GSK's vaccine candidates currently under development are formulated with GSK's proprietary adjuvant systems containing QS-21.
Under the terms of the agreements, GSK will purchase a percentage of its QS-21 supply requirements from Antigenics through 2014. Antigenics will also transfer manufacturing technologies to GSK under the supply agreement. GSK will make payments contingent upon successful milestone achievements, and will pay royalties to Antigenics on net sales for a period of at least 10 years after first commercial sale under the supply agreement.
"We are delighted to announce this transaction with GlaxoSmithKline," said Garo H. Armen, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Antigenics. "GSK is the world's leading developer of preventive vaccines and novel cancer immunotherapeutics and Antigenics' QS-21 offers GSK one of the most potent and widely used immunostimulants in development. These agreements represent an important strategic collaboration for both companies."
About QS-21
QS-21 is the leading member of the Stimulon family of adjuvants developed by Antigenics, and has been shown to stimulate both antibody (humoral) as well as cellular immune responses. Published clinical studies have shown QS-21 to be significantly more effective in stimulating antibody responses than aluminum adjuvants, the only adjuvants used in approved vaccines in the United States today. QS-21 has not only become a critical component in the development of preventative vaccine formulations across a wide variety of infectious diseases, but may also be essential in enabling a new generation of therapeutic vaccines to treat cancer and degenerative disorders.
QS-21-based vaccines are being evaluated in more than 50 different indications through commercial partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and Antigenics' internal programs. A number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have licensed QS-21, including GlaxoSmithKline plc, Elan Corporation, plc, Wyeth, Pharmexa A/S and Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc. |
