Isis Signs Vaccine License Agreement With Imaxio
31st March 2010
Lyons and Clermont-Ferrand (France): Biopharmaceutical company Imaxio announced today that it has entered a reciprocal license agreement with Oxford University Innovation, the technology transfer arm of Oxford University, to exploit know-how arising out of joint research at one of the world's premier research institutions, Oxford’s Jenner Institute, for the development of new vaccines. This agreement will allow Imaxio to use its proprietary aXent adjuvant technology with viral vectors such as Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) and adenoviruses. The University of Oxford is internationally recognised for its expertise in the creation and development of virally vectored vaccines.
“The technology Isis has licensed to us further validates the ability of Imaxio’s aXent™ technology to enhance immune responses to current and future vaccines, and particularly those using viral vectors,” said Francois Miceli, Chief Executive Officer of IMAXIO. “Oxford and the Jenner Institute have been excellent sources of innovation in the vaccine field.”
Oxford also benefits, as it secures the right to use the Imaxio adjuvant in developing its own vaccines candidates, which would then be made available for partnering and further development through Isis. The current agreement is the result of a collaboration which started in 2004 and has already led to joint patent filings. This collaboration is financed in part by the Grand Challenges in Global Health consortium, a programme supported by the Gates Foundation to promote innovation in global health.
Both Imaxio and Oxford expect to see some of their projects enter into clinical trials this year, addressing globally important medical needs particularly in infectious disease.
About Oxford University Innovation
Oxford University Innovation is the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company and manages the University’s intellectual property portfolio, working with University researchers on identifying, protecting and marketing technologies through licensing, spin-out company formation and material sales. Isis files on average one new patent application each week, has concluded over 400 technology licensing agreements, and established 64 new spin-out companies from Oxford. Isis also manages Oxford University Consulting, which arranges consulting services providing clients access to the world-class expertise of the University’s academics to enhance innovative capability. Last year OUC arranged over 150 consulting deals. Isis has established a separate business division, Isis Enterprise, offering consulting expertise and advice in technology transfer and open innovation to university, government and industrial clients around the world. Isis was founded in 1987 and is today one of the world’s leading technology transfer and innovation management companies.
www.innovation.ox.ac.uk
About Imaxio
Imaxio is based in Lyon and Saint-Beauzire (near Clermont-Ferrand) in France and has 18 highly qualified employees. The company has programmes in the areas of oncology and infectious diseases, and aims to create new recombinant vaccines and new medicines (derived from its oncology screening platform) as well as new diagnostic and prognostic tools for common cancers. Imaxio was formed by the merger in 2006 of Diagnogene and Avidis, which was created in 2000 as a spin-off from the UK Medical Research Council and the University of Cambridge. Imaxio has several awarded and pending patents for the technologies aXent™, OverExpress™, Diagnogene™ and PepAptamer™. Imaxio has recently acquired company Axcell Biotechnologies which markets the vaccine Spirolept™ to prevent human leptospirosis.
www.imaxio.com
About the Jenner Institute
The Jenner Institute was founded in November 2005 to develop innovative vaccines against major global diseases. It is a unique partnership between the University of Oxford and the Institute for Animal Health, focusing uniquely on both diseases of humans and livestock, testing new vaccine approaches in parallel in different species. A major theme is translational research involving the rapid early-stage development and assessment of new vaccines in clinical trials. The Jenner Institute Investigators, through the support of many funders, are now developing promising new vaccine candidates against major global infectious diseases. New vaccines against malaria, tuberculosis and HIV are in field trials in the developing world. Research is also underway on livestock vaccines against foot and mouth disease, avian influenza, bovine tuberculosis and other major causes of economic loss. The clinical activities of the Institute are at the Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, with strong links to units in developing countries. The Institute comprises the research activities of over 20 Jenner Investigators who head leading research groups spanning human and veterinary vaccine research and development. Together the Institute Investigators comprise one of the largest non-profit sector research and development activities in vaccinology.
www.jenner.ac.uk
