Monday August 6, 8:05 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Infigen, Inc.
Infigen Awarded Porcine Cloning Patent Using
Nuclear Transfer Technology
New Patent Includes Cellular Reprogramming and Demonstrates
Infigen's World Leadership In Cloning Pigs Through Nuclear Transfer
DEFOREST, Wis., Aug. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Infigen, Inc. announced today that it has been
awarded a major U.S. patent covering the cloning of pigs using any porcine cell, including
adult, or non-embryonic, cells and for the reprogramming of non-totipotent cells, or those
otherwise unable to differentiate into other cells. The patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,258,998,
also covers material relating to enhanced efficiencies for cloning pigs from all kinds of cells.
``Technology covered in this patent affords Infigen the ability to more easily produce cloned
transgenic pigs as possible sources of replacement cells, tissues and organs for
xenotransplantation,'' said Dr. Michael Bishop, President and Chief Scientific Officer of
Infigen. Dr. Bishop is one of the inventors named in the patent.
Infigen is a privately held biotechnology company combining genomics and reproduction
technologies to advance human health. The company's new patent also covers pig embryos,
pig cells and the nuclear transfer-cloned pigs from which they are derived.
``We anticipate that that our proprietary approach to the in vitro manipulation of the
totipotent porcine cells described in these claims will have a direct, beneficial effect on the
efficiency of the nuclear transfer process, accelerating xenotransplantation research and
eventually making pig cloning a much more commercially viable technology,'' said Dr.
Bishop.
Infigen's technology now includes the ability to ``re-program'' non-embryonic cells into
totipotent cells. These cells can be further altered in the laboratory to produce transgenic
cells, embryos and pigs. Totipotent cells are easier to store, transport and ``restart'' in
culture, a major advantage over other cell lines.
``Totipotent cell lines are far more homogeneous than other cell lines, which also has a
benefit for developing live embryos from cloned cells. The efficiency of the process can be
expected to greatly increase,'' said Dr. Bishop.
The patent, entitled ``Method of cloning porcine animals,'' names Infigen employees Jeffrey M. Betthauser, Dr. Erik J.
Forsberg, and Dr. Bishop as inventors.
Separately, Infigen recently announced that it signed a three-year collaboration with Immerge BioTherapeutics, a joint venture
of Novartis Pharma AG and BioTransplant Incorporated (Nasdaq: BTRN - news), to use nuclear transfer (NT) technology to
develop genetically modified miniature swine for the study of xenotransplantation (transplantation between species). This
technology may provide a method for the production of modified pig organs that can be designed for use in xenotransplantation.
Infigen will provide Immerge BioTherapeutics exclusive access to its porcine NT technology. Immerge BioTherapeutics will
provide Infigen proprietary vectors for specific genes, as well as cells from miniature swine. The two companies will jointly
develop genetically modified cell lines for NT production of miniature swine.
The agreement provides Infigen with licensing fees and research funding for three years, as well as milestone payments. The
Immerge BioTherapeutics/Infigen joint venture is co-funded by a Department of Commerce National Institute for Science and
Technology (NIST) Advanced Technology Program Award originally funded in the year 2000 competition.
Infigen is a world leader in the commercial development of proprietary nuclear transfer cloning in the human health industry. The
company has already produced the world's largest number of transgenic and non-transgenic cloned bovine and porcine,
numbering over 165 animals.
ABOUT INFIGEN, INC.:
Infigen, Inc., formed in August 1997, is a privately-held biotechnology company commercializing its proprietary nuclear transfer
cloning in the human health field. The company has a strategic partnership with Immerge BioTherapeutics, Inc., a joint venture
of Novartis Pharma AG and BioTransplant Incorporated (Nasdaq: BTRN - news), to develop genetically modified miniature
swine for the study of xenotransplantation (transplantation between species). In 2000, Infigen was issued a U.S. patent
covering critical processes for cloning any mammal, excluding humans, utilizing Nuclear Transfer. For further information on
Infigen, visit www.infigen.com .
This release contains certain forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays, uncertainties and
other factors not under the Company's control which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company
to be materially different from the results, performance or other expectations implied by these forward-looking statements.
These factors include results of current or pending research and development activities, actions by the FDA and other
regulatory authorities, and other activities.
SOURCE: Infigen, Inc. |
