To: john lilly who wrote (156 ) 6/16/1998 1:02:00 PM From: john lilly Respond to of 428
The Press Release... Cytoclonal Pharmaceutics and Bristol-Myers Squibb Sign Agreements on Taxol Technologies PR Newswire - June 16, 1998 12:58 DALLAS, June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Cytoclonal Pharmaceutics Inc. (Nasdaq: CYPH), (CPI), announced that they have signed a license and research agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY)(BMS) on two technologies related to production of paclitaxel, the active ingredient in BMS's largest selling cancer product, TAXOL(R). Terms of the agreement were not disclosed but include fees, milestone payments, research support and royalties on any eventual product sales. The CPI and BMS agreements will focus on microbial fermentation to produce paclitaxel and/or other taxanes and on the use of specific genes to enhance production. In addition the CPI microbial strains could be screened for new products for oproduction by fermentation. Dr. Arthur P. Bollon, Chairman and CEO of CPI said that "Cytoclonal Pharmaceutics is most excited about this agreement and working with BMS since BMS is the leading oncology company in the world and TAXOL is their most successful cancer product resulting in sales of $940 million in 1997." CPI believes that its collaborative program with BMS could further enhance paclitaxel production by developing microbial fermentation which has been the mainstay for economic production of most antibiotics and many other important drugs since the discovery of penicillin. CPI believes this approach, together with genetic engineering, can make a potentially significant contribution to paclitaxel production. This would be consistent with other BMS improvements made over the original Yew bark extraction. These include semisynthesis from renewable plant resources and recently plant cell fermentation. Cytoclonal Pharmaceutics Inc., is a biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutic and diagnostic products for the treatment and prevention of cancer and infectious diseases. Its primary programs involve paclitaxel production and paclitaxel treatment of Polycystic Kidney Disease. Other programs involve Human Gene Discovery using its proprietary Retroselection(TM) with focus on a patented lung cancer related gene, Antisense Therapeutics and Mycobacteria based Vaccine delivery technology. SOURCE Cytoclonal Pharmaceutics Inc. /CONTACT: Michelle Bleiberg of Ackermann Public Relations, 214-599-8320 or Fax: 214-599-8321, for Cytoclonal Pharmaceutics Inc./