Ciphergen Expands License Agreement with Genencor for Chromatographic Sorbents for Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibody Production
Wednesday January 21, 9:01 am ET
FREMONT, Calif., Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ciphergen Biosystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CIPH - News) announced today the expansion of its existing License Agreement with Genencor International, Inc. covering the production and marketing of products based on certain of Genencor's proprietary Hydrophobic Charge Induction chromatography technology. Ciphergen employs this technology in the production of MEP HyperCel® by its BioSepra® process chromatography division. MEP Hypercel is a high capacity, high selectivity sorbent with a number of significant advantages over Protein A sorbents for the capture, purification and production of monoclonal antibodies. Under the expanded terms of the agreement, Ciphergen has exclusive, worldwide right to use Genencor's technology for the production of MEP chromatographic sorbents as well as MEP membranes. Furthermore, Ciphergen has the right to both distribute products based on this technology through its own channels and third parties. The agreement also allows Ciphergen to sub-contract MEP Hypercel manufacturing rights under the license to third parties under certain conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Monoclonal antibodies constitute the largest number of protein-based therapeutic and diagnostic molecules currently in clinical trials. Affinity chromatography on Protein A-based sorbents is a very widely used antibody purification method, but is plagued by many known problems including cost, lifetime in usage and leaching issues. The physical properties of MEP HyperCel allow it to be used in production processes at approximately 1/3 of the cost of Protein A-based sorbents, with approximately 2 times the productivity.
"We are extremely pleased by the expansion of this license agreement, which broadens our rights and enhances our ability to promote acceptance of MEP HyperCel by monoclonal antibody manufacturers," stated William E. Rich, President and CEO of Ciphergen. "The price and productivity advantages of MEP HyperCel over Protein A-based products has already resulted in this product being evaluated in over 100 processes and employed in 5 processes for the production of material for clinical trials."
"MEP is a part of our portfolio of bioprocessing technologies that offers tremendous advantages in the purification of monoclonal antibodies," said Gary Hooper, Vice President of Business Development for Genencor International. "Ciphergen is well positioned to create wider market acceptance for use of MEP-based products and services in a rapidly growing field."
About Ciphergen
Ciphergen's Biosystems Division develops, manufactures and markets a family of ProteinChip® Systems and services for clinical, research, and process proteomics applications, as well as a broad range of bioseparations media for protein purification and large scale production. ProteinChip Systems enable protein discovery, characterization, identification and assay development to provide researchers with predictive, multi-marker assay capabilities and a better understanding of biological function at the protein level. Ciphergen's Diagnostics Division is dedicated to the discovery of protein biomarkers and panels of biomarkers and their development into protein molecular diagnostic tests that improve patient care; and to providing collaborative R&D services through its Biomarker Discovery Centers® for biomarker discovery for new diagnostic tests as well as pharmacoproteomic services for improved drug toxicology, efficacy and theranostic assays. Additional information about Ciphergen can be found at www.ciphergen.com. |
