MEDICAGO AWARDED $21 MILLION FROM THE U.S. DEPT OF DEFENSE
2010-08-10 06:24 MT - News Release
Mr. Andy Sheldon reports
MEDICAGO AWARDED $21 MILLION FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Medicago USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Medicago Inc., has been awarded a $21-million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Broad Agency Announcement and Defense Sciences Research and Technology to demonstrate the scalable manufacturing of its plant-expressed virus-like-particle vaccines in the USA under a technology investment agreement. Medicago will develop a 90,000-square-foot current-good-manufacturing-practice facility in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. This state-of-the-art facility will be a large, cost-effective and scaled-up facility for Medicago's VLP plant-based vaccine technology for the delivery of cGMP-grade vaccine. Medicago will scale up and automate its cGMP process to demonstrate its capacity to produce 10 million doses per month of influenza vaccines with the potential for further expansion in the future. This DARPA project is an accelerated and integrated effort to deliver effective production of pandemic influenza in the USA. The accelerated manufacture-of-pharmaceuticals program seeks to identify new ways to produce large amounts of high-quality vaccine protein in less than three months in response to emerging and novel biologic threats. The strategic collaboration is a $42-million project in which DARPA contributes $21-million, Medicago $7.5-million and Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. $13.5-million.
"We are thrilled to be awarded such significant funding from DARPA for the development of a state-of-the-art plant-based VLP vaccine capability in the USA as it further validates the growing and strategic interest in our rapid and cost-effective vaccine technology," said Andy Sheldon, president and chief executive officer of Medicago. "This DARPA funding is also perfectly in-line with our development plan for both our pandemic and seasonal influenza products as we will now have a U.S. facility ready to participate in the $7-billion pandemic and seasonal influenza markets. In addition, our U.S. facility will provide us enhanced access to the various grant programs in the USA, and we will be ready to take part in these additional funding opportunities."
Alexandria Real Estate Equities is the largest owner and leading provider of high-quality environmentally sustainable real estate, technical infrastructure and services to the broad and diverse life science industry focused in the leading life science clusters.
"We are delighted to be working with Alexandria as they are a leader in their field, and it allows us to reduce the upfront capital required for the building of our new U.S. commercial-grade facility," added Mr. Sheldon.
"This collaboration further highlights the emergence of plant-based platforms as viable technologies for the production of valuable products, like vaccines," said Doug Dean, senior vice-president of research and development of Philip Morris International. "As Medicago have clearly demonstrated, their plant-based technology has significant benefits over traditional manufacturing methods."
During the recent H1N1 influenza outbreak, Medicago's rapid plant-based VLP vaccine technology was able to develop a vaccine candidate in less than a month after identifying the H1N1 strain and is therefore one of the few technologies that can provide a solution in the case of a pandemic.
"It's vitally important to our Homeland Security that we have a robust domestic vaccine supply, and this facility will add to our production capacity helping mitigate future threats," said Congressman David Price. "Medicago's facility will ultimately bring hundreds of good-paying jobs to the region, and DARPA's investment in this project is another significant contribution to local-recovery efforts. This is a welcome confirmation that the Triangle continues to lead the way delivering innovative high-tech products and creating the jobs that will power a 21st century economy." Republican Price is the chairman of the house Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee.
Medicago will host an investor conference call and webcast on Aug. 10, 2010, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss this development. To access the conference call by telephone, dial 647-427-7450 or 1-888-231-8191. A replay of the call will be available by telephone through Aug. 17, 2010. To access the telephone replay, dial 416-849-0833 or 1-800-642-1687 and enter reservation No. 93065193 followed by the number sign. Members of the media are invited to attend the press conference to discuss this development.
When: Aug. 10 at 9 a.m.
Where: North Carolina Biotech Centre Auditorium, 15 T.W. Alexander Dr., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 27709
About Alexandria Real Estate Equities
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, landlord of choice to the life science industry, is the largest owner and pre-eminent first-in-class real estate investment trust and leading provider of high-quality environmentally sustainable real estate, technical infrastructure and services to the broad and diverse life science industry focused in the leading life science clusters. Client tenants include institutional (universities and independent not-for-profit institutions), pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, product, service and translational entities, and renewable energy entities, as well as government agencies. Alexandria's operating platform is based on the principle of clustering, with assets and operations located in key life science markets. Their asset base approximates 12.7 million rentable square feet (including spaces undergoing active redevelopment and properties undergoing ground-up development).
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