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Biotech / Medical : HuMAB companies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nigel bates who wrote (728)	6/18/2005 1:19:11 PM
From: scaram(o)uche	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1022

All derives from a small company that was in Santa Monica, started by a bunch of faculty from UCLA..... including a guy who was on my thesis committee. XOMA purchased the company for reasons largely unrelated to this technology. All these years, they go nowhere with what they've actually tried to do, and this passive asset eventually becomes the only road. icos.com The guy on my thesis committee was Randy Wall, not Dr. Wilcox..... just posting the link for the history aspect.

To: nigel bates who wrote (728)	6/20/2005 6:47:54 AM
From: nigel bates	Respond to of 1022

Diversa and Merck Expand Collaboration to Develop Novel Therapeutic Antibodies SAN DIEGO, June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Diversa Corporation (Nasdaq: DVSA - News) announced today that it has expanded its existing agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. for the development of novel therapeutic antibodies. Under the terms of the expanded agreement, Diversa will receive an additional upfront payment and research funding, and will be entitled to receive milestones based on successful development of antibody candidates and royalties on sales of products developed under the collaboration. In January, the two companies announced their initial antibody development agreement to apply Diversa's MedEv(TM) antibody evolution platform in a joint development program. "Based upon the progress of our initial program, we are pleased to expand our collaboration with Diversa," said John Shiver, Ph.D., Vice President, Vaccine and Biologics Research at Merck. "Diversa's antibody optimization technologies are aligned with our overall mission of empowering cutting edge pharmaceutical research to develop market-leading products." "Diversa's proprietary protein evolution technologies have a unique capability for evolving novel functionality in antibodies. We are enthusiastic about expanding our relationship with Merck and applying our integrated platform for developing next-generation biotherapeutic agents," said Dr. Jay M. Short, Diversa's President and Chief Executive Officer. About Diversa's MedEv(TM) Platform Two protein evolution technology platforms patented by Diversa comprise the MedEv(TM) antibody optimization platform: Gene Site Saturation Mutagenesis(TM) (GSSM(TM)) and GeneReassembly(TM) technologies. Combined with high-throughput screening, these patented techniques yield a complete picture of the detailed functional behavior of every variant derived from a candidate antibody. About Diversa Diversa Corporation is a leader in applying proprietary genomic technologies for the rapid discovery and optimization of novel protein-based products. The Company is directing its integrated portfolio of technologies to the discovery, evolution, and production of commercially valuable molecules with agricultural, chemical, industrial, and pharmaceutical applications. Diversa has established alliances and joint ventures with market leaders, such as Bayer Animal Health, Cargill Health and Food Technologies, DuPont Bio-Based Materials, GlaxoSmithKline, Medarex, Merck, and Xoma. In addition, the Company has formed a broad strategic relationship with Syngenta AG, a world- leading agribusiness company. Diversa has commercialized products both independently and in collaboration with strategic partners and licensees. Additional information is available at Diversa's website: www.diversa.com...