GTC Biotherapeutics Obtains License to Nuclear Transfer Patents
Tuesday April 10, 9:00 am ET
FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc. ("GTC", Nasdaq: GTCB) announced today that it has been granted a non-exclusive worldwide license from Start Licensing, Inc., a joint venture between Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN - News) and Exeter Life Sciences, Inc., for the patents and patent applications developed by the Roslin Institute to apply nuclear transfer to the production of therapeutic proteins in the milk of transgenic animals. Nuclear transfer may be utilized, as an alternative to micro-injection, to provide schedule predictability in developing the first animal that incorporates into its genome the transgene for a therapeutic protein to be expressed in milk. Nuclear transfer may also be used to speed the development of large scale transgenic production capacity. Financial terms include an upfront payment of $200,000 to Start and a total of 278,370 shares of GTCB common stock, based on the 10-day average closing price ending April 5, divided equally between Start and Exeter. There will also be a royalty payable to Start for those products developed with the patented nuclear transfer technology. The license agreement remains in place through the last patent to expire, which is expected in 2016 for the currently issued patents.
"We are pleased to enter into this licensing agreement to ensure we have the freedom to operate for those programs where the application of nuclear transfer is appropriate for product development," stated Geoffrey F. Cox, Ph.D., GTC's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. "Our intellectual property portfolio provides patent protection for both the practice of our technology and the commercialization of our products. Last year, we received a patent in the United States for the production of therapeutic proteins in the milk of any transgenic mammal through 2021. This broad and long-lived intellectual property, all of which is independent of traditional bioreactor-based intellectual property, supports our strategic focus on the development and commercialization of recombinant plasma proteins and monoclonal antibodies."
About Start Licensing
Start is a joint venture of the Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN - News) and Exeter Life Sciences, Inc. Start manages and licenses a broad portfolio of intellectual property rights related to animal reproductive technologies, including foundational nuclear transfer cloning technology that was developed at the Roslin Institute for the cloning of Dolly the sheep. Start's licensees are on the cutting edge of research and product development in food production, medical applications and many other fields.
