Typically informative company PR -
XOMA to Receive New Royalty Stream From Bacterial Production License
Wednesday July 12, 9:00 am ET
LUCENTIS(TM) is First Approved Drug Licensed Under XOMA's BCE Program
BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2006--XOMA Ltd. (Nasdaq:XOMA - News) today announced that LUCENTIS(TM), owned by Genentech, Inc. (NYSE:DNA - News) and recently approved by the FDA for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration, is the first marketed therapeutic product by a licensee of XOMA's Bacterial Cell Expression (BCE) technology. XOMA will receive a royalty on worldwide sales of LUCENTIS(TM). Another drug, CIMZIA(TM) (certolizumab pegol, CDP870), owned by UCB (Euronext-Brussels:UCB), has been submitted to the FDA and European regulators for approval in Crohn's disease and is currently in Phase 3 clinical trials for rheumatoid arthritis.
"Over time, we believe that a number of drugs covered by our BCE licenses may be approved, and the collective royalty streams and other payments may provide a significant source of revenue to XOMA," said Jack Castello, XOMA's Chairman, President and CEO. "The approval of LUCENTIS(TM) marks an important milestone in XOMA's progress toward building a stable financial base from multiple business activities while we continue to pursue our primary objective -- the commercialization of our own proprietary and partnered drug candidates."
A pioneer and leader in therapeutic antibodies, XOMA holds a broad portfolio of patents, both U.S. and foreign, relating to the expression of antibodies, antibody fragments and other proteins in bacteria. XOMA's BCE licensing program includes production and research licenses, which to date have been signed with more than 45 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. XOMA has also provided its BCE technology in cross-license arrangements that have allowed XOMA to gain access to seven of the world's leading phage display libraries and other technologies critical to its antibody discovery and development programs. As a matter of policy, XOMA generally does not disclose royalty percentages, up-front or milestone payments, or other financial terms of specific licenses.... |
