Category Archives: Licenses

International Symposium on the Accessibility to High-Value Medicine, December 5-6, 2017 in London

LONDON, Dec-3-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — On December 5-6, 2017, 200 high-level experts from government, academia, biopharmaceutical developers and patient organisations convene in London (UK) to address the mounting challenge of accessibility and patient access to high-value, high-cost medical therapies.

The not-for-profit executive forum is organised by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and analytica|LASER, a global research consultancy, to investigate topical questions around drug policy, global health systems sustainability and innovation funding through a combination of case studies, panel sessions, and roundtables. Delegations are registered from over 70 public and private organisations, including the World Health Organization, as well as health systems representatives from Belgium, England, Estonia, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the United States and Wales. Multiple patient organisations support the meeting to ensure that the patient voice is reflected in all deliberations.

“Access to life-saving drugs is not a new challenge. The paradigm of accessibility was changed completely in the face of the deadly HIV epidemic. This time, however, accessibility concerns almost every domain of medicine such as cancer, auto-immune diseases and rare diseases. We must act now,” says Prof Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and former head of UNAIDS.

“There is an incredible challenge for the sustainability of health systems across the world”, says Prof. Lucien Abenhaim, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Chairman of Analytica Laser. “It is critical that drug developers and health system engage on actionable proposals that address concerns around value, cost and overall access to innovation for the patients who need it. We are at an inflection point – the paradigms of the 1990’s can no longer guide us,” he adds.

Yann Le Cam, CEO of EURORDIS-Rare Diseases Europe, an alliance of over 700 rare disease patient organisations, commented, “The majority of people living with a rare disease have delayed or no access to the medicine they need. Only through a collective engagement between all stakeholders involved, including industry, competent authorities, health ministries, academics and regulators, can we break the access deadlock.” Le Cam will be presenting a new four-pillar approach to improve access to rare disease therapies in Europe.

The main plenary on December 6th features scheduled remarks by over a dozen authorities in the field, including Professor Baron Peter Piot (Director, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and former Head, UNAIDS), Dr. Olivier Brandicourt (Chief Executive Officer, Sanofi), Dr. Sarah Garner (World Health Organization), Prof. Dominique Le Guludec (President, French HAS), Sir Andrew Dillon (Chief Executive, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence UK) and Dr. Harold Paz (Chief Medical Officer, Aetna). The plenary is preceded by a scientific seminar on December 5th which gathers globally renowned academics to explore new frontiers on the methodology for the appraisal and valuation of high-value medicines.

Please contact the organisers for more information on the programming and media access, or refer to www.accessibility-symposium.org

SOURCE: EuropaWire

VTU Technology and Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) entered into a development and commercialization agreement

VTU Technology to offer unique combination of technologies for the high-level production of proteins with human-like glycosylation using Pichia GlycoSwitch®

Tucson, Arizona and Grambach, Austria, December 03, 2014 — /EPR BIOTECH NEWS/ — VTU Technology and Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) announced today that they have entered into a development and commercialization agreement for VTU to combine both companies´ Pichia pastoris protein production technologies. Pichia GlycoSwitch® – a new expression system for the production of glycoproteins with human-like glycosylation patterns – and VTU´s yield enhancing Pichia pastoris expression platform are now available in one package from VTU. This unique combination of technologies acting synergistically is of great benefit for customers as it leads to a high performance production platform for recombinant glycoproteins with superior product yields and uniform Man5 – or other human-like glycoforms.

Under the terms of the agreement, RCT grants VTU Technology access to RCT´s Pichia GlycoSwitch® expression system for combination with VTU´s in-house high-yielding Pichia platform featuring different proprietary technologies such as AOX1 promoter libraries suited for both methanol-induced and methanol-free production. VTU Technology is now offering the combined technology suite as part of the company´s expression strain and corresponding bioprocess development contract services portfolio.

“We are delighted to offer Pichia GlycoSwitch® engineered with our broad portfolio of Pichia tools in this partnership with RCT and I am convinced that our yield enhancing technologies will give GlycoSwitch® an exciting extra edge for the production of glycoproteins with Man5 – or other human-like glycoforms”, states Thomas Purkarthofer, Ph.D., Head of Business Development of VTU Technology.

“Our partnership with VTU Technology brings together two technologies that will enable customers to uniquely tailor the glycosylation of their target protein and explore new biological functions. We are looking forward to working with VTU Technology to expand the potential of proteins manufactured in Pichia GlycoSwitch®”, states Kurt R. Gehlsen, Ph.D., Vice President and CSO of Research Corporation Technologies, Inc.

About Pichia

Pichia pastoris is a yeast widely used for recombinant protein expression. As a microbial eukaryotic organism, Pichia combines the post-translational modification systems similar to those found in mammalian cells, with the ease of use/manipulation of E. coli. Decades of processes development have been focused on efficiently growing Pichia to extremely high cell densities; and multiple generations of molecular biology tools have been created to engineer strains to produce tens of grams/liters of a recombinant protein product. Pichia can secrete high levels of properly folded, functional proteins into a simple, defined medium for easy purification. There have been more than 20,000 publications on the use of Pichia for the production of more than 5,000 proteins, with more than 70 products manufactured in Pichia on the market today. Pichia products include enzymes manufactured in 200,000-liter fermenters and two FDA-approved therapeutics.

Pichia GlycoSwitch® is a recombinant protein expression system that broadens Pichia’s applications to glycoproteins where N-linked glycosylation is important for biological function. Pichia GlycoSwitch® offers researchers the ability to control the glycosylation (sugar addition) of recombinant glycoproteins and explore the role of protein glycosylation and various glycan structures on protein function. Pichia´s typical high-mannose glycan patterns can also be eliminated to reduce immunogenicity caused by the unwanted hyperglycosylation. The Pichia GlycoSwitch® system consists of patents, strains and vectors that are useful for making proteins with a number of different human-like glycoforms.

For additional information about Pichia, please visit www.pichia.com.

About VTU Technology

VTU Technology, a leading contract research and development company, offers the broadest toolbox and most versatile technology platform available for Pichia pastoris recombinant protein expression / production enabling highest productivities delivering up to 22 g/L of secreted protein within a few weeks development time. VTU Technology´s powerful Pichia pastoris protein expression technology is based on its optimized gene design and cloning strategies, proprietary AOX1 promoter libraries & in-house expression platform and high-throughput screening & cultivation regime, combined with excellent know-how in fermentation and downstream process development.

Headquartered in Grambach/Graz, Austria, VTU Technology is a private company and a subsidiary of VTU Holding, an Austrian enterprise that combines several technology and engineering companies in chemistry, pharma & life science as well as power and fuel industry. For additional information about VTU Technology, please visit www.vtu-technology.com.

About RCT

RCT is a Tucson, Ariz.-based technology investment and management company that provides early-stage funding and development for promising biomedical companies and technologies. RCT focuses on technology investments with origins from universities and research institutions worldwide. RCT’s technology portfolio includes platforms and tools that support the discovery, development and manufacturing of therapeutics. Current platform technologies include Pichia and E.coli protein expression systems and novel protein binding scaffolds. To learn more about RCT, see www.rctech.com and www.pichia.com.

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VTU Technology and RCT announce partnership
VTU Technology and RCT announce partnership
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RCT Color logo
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For more information

Thomas Purkarthofer, Ph.D.
VTU Technology GmbH
Phone: +43 316 4009 4017
Email: thomas.purkarthofer@vtu.com

Kurt R. Gehlsen, Ph.D.
Research Corporation Technologies
Phone: 520-748-4460
Email: kgehlsen@rctech.com

Advanced Liquid Logic Licenses Patents, Creates Collaboration With CEA-Leti

Advanced Liquid Logic announced today that it has signed a license and collaboration agreement with the French research institute CEA-Leti. The agreement provides Advanced Liquid Logic with worldwide exclusive access to CEA’s portfolio of patents related to digital microfluidics.

Advanced Liquid Logic co-founder and Dr. Michael Pollack said, “This agreement puts our company in a clearly dominant position with respect to the intellectual property surrounding digital microfluidics.” Co-founder Dr. Vamsee Pamula added, “the accompanying collaboration with a very active and highly competent group of researchers will provide us with key technical resources to help address both today’s and tomorrow’s technology challenges.” Advanced Liquid Logic has set up a subsidiary company in Grenoble, France to help manage the collaboration and to provide an initial position to address market opportunities in Europe. CEA-Leti employee Dr. Cyril Delattre will join the company and manage Advanced Liquid Logic’s French subsidiary.

“The combination of Advanced Liquid Logic’s intellectual property position and their readiness for market made them the ideal partner,” said Dr. Laurent Malier, CEO Leti. “We expect that our complementary skills, expertise and intellectual property will be very useful going forward. This partnership with Advanced Liquid Logic offers an industrial solution that will help us develop applications bases on microfluidics for many sectors”.

Advanced Liquid Logic previously acquired intellectual property from Nanolytics and Core Microsolutions. The company now owns or controls over 45 issued patents related to their proprietary, electrowetting-based digital microfluidic technology.

About Advanced Liquid Logic
Advanced Liquid Logic, headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is commercializing its proprietary “Digital Microfluidics” technology in a spectrum of life sciences and clinical diagnostics applications. Digital microfluidics enables precise and flexible manipulation of microdroplets using electrical fields and therefore avoids the need for pumps, valves or microchannels required by competing technologies. For more information please visit http://www.liquid-logic.com/

About CEA-Leti
CEA is a French research and technology organization, with activities in four main areas: energy, information technologies, healthcare technologies and defence and security. Within CEA, the Laboratory for Electronics & Information Technology (CEA-Leti) works with companies in order to increase their competitiveness through technological innovation and transfers. CEA-Leti is focused on micro and nanotechnologies and their applications, from wireless devices and systems, to biology and healthcare or photonics. Nanoelectronics and microsystems (MEMS) are at the core of its activities. As a major player in MINATEC campus, CEA-Leti operates 8,000-m² state-of-the-art clean rooms, on 24/7 mode, on 200mm and 300mm wafer standards. With 1,400 employees, CEA-Leti trains more than 190 Ph.D. students and hosts 200 assignees from partner companies. Strongly committed to the creation of value for the industry, CEA-Leti puts a strong emphasis on intellectual property and owns more than 1,700 patent families.
Visit www.leti.fr.

Via EPR Network
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CodeLink business assets have been transferred under the agreement between Applied Microarrays and GE Healthcare

Applied Microarrays, Inc announced today the completion of Applied Microarrays’ purchase of certain assets of GE Healthcare’s CodeLinkâ„¢ Gene Expression Bioarray System. Under the terms of the agreement, Applied Microarrays, Inc acquires certain equipment, inventory, licenses and assigned contracts associated with the CodeLink platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The transaction enables Applied Microarrays to provide CodeLink users with continued and uninterrupted access to the industry-leading gene expression platform as Applied Microarrays, Inc continues to develop, market, distribute, sell, and support the existing CodeLink catalogue of whole genome expression arrays, Codelink custom arrays and Codelink inside arrays.

Alastair Malcolm, president and chief executive officer of Applied Microarrays, said, “We’re pleased to now have a unique opportunity to launch our company with a full range of microarray design, development, and manufacturing competencies and at the same time ensure a seamless transition for customers.

Eric Roman, General Manager Genomic Sciences, GE Healthcare, said, “There has been strong demand from CodeLink customers to keep these products in the marketplace. We’re delighted to have found a way for our customers to continue working with one of the best gene expression platforms available.”

“The CodeLink platform is customer-proven over several years, notably demonstrating world-class technical performance in the FDA-led MicroArray Quality Control project,” Malcolm said. Applied Microarrays is immediately opening the CodeLink platform to the microarray community for new applications development, offering customers the opportunity to place their unique custom array content on to a robust, proven platform which can be manufactured in high volume.

Applied Microarrays aims to be a leading contract manufacturer of microarrays, of any type, for any customer, with no limitations on substrate material or spotted fluid. “We are fortunate in this regard to have acquired an intact high-capacity microarray spotting facility, employing Six Sigma techniques since its inception to produce leadership quality products,” Malcolm said.

About Applied Microarrays, Inc.
Applied Microarrays is a new company headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. Using the microarray assets acquired from GE, and staffed with experts who developed the CodeLink platform and manufacturing capabilities, the company will specialize in contract development and manufacturing of custom microarrays of all types. The company will additionally continue to offer the CodeLink family of gene expression arrays, and customer-specified subsets of that content on multi-array formats. Our vision is to be the microarray partner of choice for focused “omics” research, and the leading high-volume contract manufacturer for research and diagnostic arrays.

About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. GE Healthcare’s expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare’s broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and other conditions earlier. GE Healthcare’s vision for the future is to enable a new “early health” model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.

Via EPR Network
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