Cambrex Licenses Powerful Technologies for Conditionally
Immortalized Cells For Use in Drug Discovery
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cambrex Corporation
(NYSE:CBM) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Cambrex Bio Science
Wokingham, Ltd. has signed an agreement for the purchase of conditionally
immortalized cell lines, related intellectual property and equipment of
Xcellsyz Limited, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom. Cambrex Bio Science
Walkersville, Inc., also a subsidiary of Cambrex, has entered into license
agreements for Geron Corporation's (NASDAQ:GERN) proprietary telomerase
technology and complementary conditional immortalization technology from the
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR). Detailed financial terms of the
agreements were not disclosed.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000613/CAMBREXLOGO ) This powerful combination of technologies for drug discovery will allow Cambrex
to conditionally immortalize a broad set of cell types critical to understand
and manage metabolic disease: muscle cells for diabetes; adipose cells for
obesity; endothelial cells for heart disease; hepatocytes for toxicology
studies. Conditionally immortalized cells can be generated in volumes
sufficient for high throughput screening (HTS), are homogenous and express
normal markers similar to primary cells, thus managing the key limitations of
primary cells in drug discovery.
To discover a new drug, researchers must evaluate a large number of compounds
for efficacy and toxicity. High throughput screening techniques are frequently
used to evaluate a large number of compounds quickly in a relevant cell model.
Primary cells (non-immortalized) can be used and best represent normal
physiology, but are typically not available in the large, uniform quantities
needed for high throughput applications. Conventionally immortalized cells can
divide indefinitely into large homogeneous cell populations needed for high
throughput screening, but do not behave like normal cells. Conditional
immortalization using telomerized cells and the LICR technology allows cells to
divide indefinitely, retain normal function and appearance, and produce uniform
cell populations for functional cell-based assays and long-term gene expression
studies.
"These technologies allow us immediate entry into a new segment of the drug
discovery market with cell strains already under evaluation with several key
customers," commented Dave Eansor, President, Bioproducts. "The licenses
enable us to continue developing new cell models critical to the advancement of
drug discovery, management of metabolic disease and further penetrate the
rapidly growing cell-based screening market." For more information on Cambrex cell lines, please contact: D.G. Ferneyhough,
Segment Manager, Cell Biology, 301-898-7025, extension 2417, .
About Geron Corporation Geron is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing
therapeutic and diagnostic products for cancer based on its telomerase
technology and cell-based therapeutics using its human embryonic stem cell
technology. For more information, please visit their website at
http://www.geron.com/.
About Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) is the largest international
academic institute dedicated to understanding and controlling cancer. LICR has
developed an impressive portfolio of reagents, knowledge, expertise, and
intellectual property, and has also assembled the personnel, facilities, and
practices necessary to patent, clinically evaluate, license, and thus
translate, the most promising aspects of its own laboratory research.
For more information, please visit their website at http://www.licr.org/.
About Xcellsyz Limited Xcellsyz was focused on drug discovery using its novel human cell-based
platform technology. Xcellsyz will now concentrate on collaborative
development and licensing of its early-stage drug pipeline of ATP-competitive
inhibitors of GSK-3, Rho-kinase II (ROCK II) and p70s6 kinase from its base in
Newcastle, UK. For more information see http://www.xcellsyz.com/.
About Cambrex Bio Science Walkersville and Wokingham Subsidiaries of Cambrex Corporation are leading providers of normal human cells
systems; research and therapeutic media; cell therapy services; endotoxin
detection products, services and software; electrophoresis and chromatography
products; products and services for rapid testing, including custom assay
development; regulatory services; and therapeutic commercialization solutions.
About Cambrex Corporation Cambrex is a global, diversified life science company dedicated to providing
high quality products and services that accelerate the development and
commercialization of human therapeutics. The Company employs approximately
1900 worldwide. For more information, please visit our website at
http://www.cambrex.com/.
Forward Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Rule 3B-6 under The
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including, without limitation, statements
regarding expected performance, especially expectations with respect to sales,
research and development expenditures, earnings per share, capital
expenditures, acquisitions, divestitures, collaborations, or other expansion
opportunities. These statements may be identified by the fact that words such
as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "believes" or similar
expressions are used in connection with any discussion of future financial and
operating performance. The forward-looking statements contained herein are
based on current plans and expectations and involve risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current
expectations including but not limited to, global economic trends,
pharmaceutical outsourcing trends, competitive pricing or product developments,
government legislation and/or regulations (particularly environmental issues),
tax rate, technology, manufacturing and legal issues, unfavorable results
shipments, changes in foreign exchange rates, performance of minority
investments, un-collectable receivables, loss on disposition of assets,
cancellation or delays in renewal of contracts, and lack of suitable raw
materials or packaging materials. For further details and a discussion of
these and other risks and uncertainties, investors are cautioned to review the
Cambrex Annual Report on Form 10-K, including the Forward-Looking Statement and
Risk Factors That May Impact Future Results sections therein, and other filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no
obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000613/CAMBREXLOGODATASOURCE: Cambrex
Corporation CONTACT: Anne-Marie Hess, Director Investor Relations & Corporate Communications of Cambrex Corporation, +1-201-804-3062, or Web site: http://www.cambrex.com/ http://www.xcellsyz.com/ http://www.geron.com/ http://www.licr.org/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/134219.html
|