omniture

Cellectis and Regeneron Sign an Agreement Over the use of Homologous Recombination Technology

Cellectis SA
2008-07-03 03:39 2873

BIOCITECH, France, July 4 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --

Cellectis SA today announced the signature of an agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. over the use of Cellectis’ patents covering certain uses of homologous recombination for the generation of innovative human therapies, including the development of fully human monoclonal antibodies. As part of the agreement, Cellectis will receive an upfront of 12,450,000$ from Regeneron. In addition, Regeneron will invest in Cellectis’ equity.

The agreement resolves a dispute between the two companies related to the interpretation of a license agreement entered into by and between Cellectis and Regeneron in December 2003 pursuant to which Regeneron licensed certain patents and patent applications relating to a process for the specific replacement of a copy of a gene in the receiver genome by homologous recombination. Pursuant to the agreement, Regeneron will make an up-front payment to Cellectis in the amount of $12,450,000. In addition, Regeneron will pay Cellectis a low single-digit royalty based on revenue received by Regeneron from any future licenses or sales of Regeneron’s VelociGene(R) or VelocImmune(R) products and services. No royalties are payable with respect to Regeneron’s VelocImmune license agreements with AstraZeneca UK Limited and Astellas Pharma Inc. or Regeneron’s November 2007 collaboration agreement with sanofi-aventis. Moreover, due to other considerations in the agreement, no royalties are payable on any revenue from commercial sales of antibodies from Regeneron’s VelocImmune technology.

Regeneron and Cellectis also entered into a Subscription Agreement pursuant to which Regeneron will acquire 368,301 ordinary shares of Cellectis, par value EUR 0.05 per share, at a price of EUR 8.63 per share, for a total of EUR 3,178,437.63. The subscription is contingent upon the prior approval of the board of directors of Cellectis and by the shareholders of Cellectis at an extraordinary general meeting to be held no later than October 30, 2008.

About the licensed patents:

The agreement relates to Institut Pasteur’s patents covering certain uses of homologous recombination (US patents #6 528 313, 6 638 768 and 6 528 314, Japanese patents #3059481, #3298842 and #3298864 and European patents EP #419 621 and #682 112). As the exclusive licensee of these patents, Cellectis has access to the process of targeted integration of DNA sequences.

Source: Cellectis SA
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