Transgene Announces Achievement of Clinical Milestone by Merck & Co., Inc. Using Transgene's Proprietary Technology
July 21 2005 - 1:01AM
PR Newswire (US)
Transgene Announces Achievement of Clinical Milestone by Merck
& Co., Inc. Using Transgene's Proprietary Technology
STRASBOURG, France, July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Transgene
(Eurolist Paris : FR0005175080; Nasdaq: TRGNY) announced today that
Merck & Co., Inc. has met a clinical development milestone for
a vaccine candidate constructed with Transgene's proprietary
homologous recombination technology. This technology enables the
highly efficient and fast generation of recombinant viral vectors,
in particular adenovirus vectors, which can be used in a broad
range of applications, including recombinant vaccines and in vitro
diagnostics. Transgene granted Merck a non-exclusive license for
this technology in January 2003 and expects to receive, in addition
to the initial license fee and annual maintenance fees, milestone
payments based on the further development of products by Merck, as
well as royalties on any marketed products. "The initiation of a
Phase I trial triggers the first clinical milestone payment under
the license agreement signed between Merck and Transgene," said
Philippe Archinard, Chief Executive Officer of Transgene. "We are
pleased that Merck is making further progress towards developing
vaccines using our proprietary technology." Transgene, based in
Strasbourg, France is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the
discovery and development of therapeutic vaccines and
immunotherapeutic products in oncology and infectious diseases.
Transgene has a broadportfolio of clinical stage immunotherapy
drugs, technologies available for out-licensing and viral vectors
bio-manufacturing capacities. This press release contains
forward-looking statements referring to the further development and
eventual marketing of Transgene proprietary technology, as well as
to the receipt by Transgene of future milestone and royalty
payments related thereto. However, as is the case with all
biopharmaceutical products and technology under development,
results from clinical testing may not show favourable outcomes, and
there is no certainty that technology under development will ever
demonstrate adequate medical efficacy or achieve regulatory
approval or commercial use. As a result, the receipt by Transgene
of further milestone payments and eventually royalty payments for
marketed products is uncertain. For a description of the principal
risks facing the successful clinical and commercial development of
Transgene's products and technology, see Transgene's Annual Report
on Form 20-F and its other reports on file with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission. DATASOURCE: Transgene CONTACT: Philippe
Poncet, C.F.O. and Investors Relations, Transgene,
+33-3-88-27-91-21; Estelle Guillot-Tantay or Tiphaine Hecketsweiler
of Image 7, +33-1-53-70-74-93, for Transgene Web site:
http://www.transgene.fr/
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