Invitrogen Licenses Geron Intellectual Property for Development of Research Tools
Thursday June 29, 8:00 am ET
CARLSBAD, Calif. & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 29, 2006--Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq:IVGN - News) and Geron Corporation (Nasdaq:GERN - News) today announced that Invitrogen has licensed Geron intellectual property related to the growth of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).
ADVERTISEMENT
The agreement provides Invitrogen with a non-exclusive license under Geron's patents to develop, manufacture and sell media, additives and reagents for use by hESC researchers subject to certain commercial use restrictions. In addition, the agreement enables Invitrogen to provide research-use-only sublicenses for the products to its customers. Geron will receive license payments and royalties on products developed under the agreement. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Availability of new products from Invitrogen for the growth of hESCs will benefit everyone in the field of hESC research," said David J. Earp, J.D., Ph.D., Geron's Chief Patent Counsel and Senior Vice President of Business Development. "We are pleased to grant licenses so that Invitrogen can bring such products to market."
The license granted to Invitrogen includes rights under Geron's patents covering the growth of hESCs in the absence of feeder cells, as well as additional patents covering specific media formulations for such feeder-free growth. Conventionally, undifferentiated hESCs have been grown in direct contact with mouse feeder cells or in media conditioned by such feeder cells. Geron scientists have developed techniques for growing hESCs in defined conditions without the use of feeder cells. The use of fully defined, feeder-free culture methods increases scalability and reproducibility of hESC culture and reduces the risk of contamination of the hESC populations by infectious agents from the feeder cells or other animal-sourced culture components. Such methods are likely to be required for commercial manufacture of hESCs for producing human cell therapeutics.
"Invitrogen is committed to bringing stem cell scientists novel solutions to their needs for isolating, characterizing, expanding and differentiating stem cells," said Joydeep Goswami, Ph.D., M.B.A., Invitrogen's Vice President of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine. "This license from Geron provides a great platform for creating chemically defined, animal-origin-free hESC culture media that provide a better, more reproducible system for scientists to grow cells. Additionally, it will set the stage for quickly, safely and economically conducting the research and efficiently moving products through development and into the clinic."
Human embryonic stem cells are unique in their abilities to be expanded indefinitely in culture and to be differentiated into all major cell types of the human body. These are key traits that enable the cells' use in scalable, product-based manufacturing of human cell therapeutics.
About Invitrogen
Invitrogen Corporation provides products and services that support academic and government research institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide in their efforts to improve the human condition. The company provides essential life science technologies for disease research, drug discovery, and commercial bioproduction. Invitrogen's own research and development efforts are focused on breakthrough innovation in all major areas of biological discovery including functional genomics, proteomics and cell biology, as well as emerging disciplines such as stem cell research -- placing Invitrogen's products in nearly every major laboratory in the world. Founded in 1987, Invitrogen is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, and conducts business in more than 70 countries around the world. The company globally employs approximately 4,800 professionals and had revenues of more than $1.2 billion in 2005. For more information, visit www.invitrogen.com
About Geron
Geron is a Menlo Park, Calif.-based biopharmaceutical company that is developing and intends to commercialize first-in-class therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer and degenerative diseases, including spinal cord injury, heart failure, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. The products are based on Geron's core expertise in telomerase and human embryonic stem cells. For more information, visit www.geron.com.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements in this press release regarding potential applications of Geron's human embryonic stem cell technology constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, uncertainty of clinical trial results or regulatory approvals or clearances, need for future capital, dependence upon collaborators and maintenance of our intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Additional information on potential factors that could affect our results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in Geron's periodic reports, including the quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2006. |
