The February 2004 Abbott/Europroteome research collaboration appears to only have been a loss to Abbott for the upfront and first milestone payments paid to Europroteome. A project milestone was reached in July 2004. Europroteome filed for bankruptcy protection during the latter part of 2004. Various assets of Europroteome were acquired by different companies during 2005. Google searches produced the below information but it appears that Abbott received nothing from the collaboration. Abbott only had options for licenses based on what might have been produced from the collaboration and nothing appears to have ever been produced. kag
"Europroteome has extended its research collaboration with Abbott Laboratories for the discovery and development of breast cancer diagnostic tests upon successfully reaching a project milestone. Under the agreement, signed in February 2004, Europroteome applies advanced proteomic and bioinformatic technologies to analyse serum samples from women with breast cancer against Abbott breast cancer markers. Combinations of markers are selected for further development and integration into Abbott instruments for clinical use. Abbott made an upfront payment to Europroteome and has an option for a royalty-bearing license to the results from the research collaboration and will be responsible for commercial assay development and worldwide sales and marketing."
JUNE 22, 2005 - 09:12 ET
Miraculins Acquires Intellectual Property Assets of
Europroteome AG
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA--(CCNMatthews - June 22, 2005) - Miraculins Inc. (TSX
VENTURE:MOM), a biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of products for select cancers, is pleased to announce that it has acquired intellectual property assets of Europroteome AG, a former developer of products for the diagnostic, prognostic, and patient specific therapy of human cancers. The intellectual property portfolio acquired by Miraculins includes 14 patents and numerous discoveries, related to the diagnosis and treatment of several cancers, that utilized the human sample collection of Europroteome, which contained samples from greater than 4,000 patients. Miraculins purchased all rights to the patents and has no further milestone or royalty commitments related to the patents.
"This acquisition considerably advances our product development efforts by integrating the valuable intellectual property developed by a company that spent more than EUR$15 million on research and development", stated Dr. Jim Charlton, President of Miraculins Inc. "We believe this transaction has created significant value for our shareholders."
Europroteome AG was founded in 1998 and was based in Henningsdorf,Germany. Using proteomics and transcriptomics, the Company claimed to be one of the first companies in the world to link molecular data and clinical information on a patient-by-patient basis by utilizing its clinical cancer network of clinicians, academic institutions and oncology scientists. Due to difficulties in the Company's fundraising activities, Europroteome filed for creditor protection under the German Insolvency Act and subsequently entered receivership in the latter part of 2004.
Europroteome's technology is a strong complement to Miraculins research expertise. With this acquisition Miraculins expands its growing technological capabilities in the development of diagnostic tools in cancers for which there are presently insufficient or clinically inadequate diagnostic methods. The Company expects to capitalize on the acquisition by using the cancer markers previously validated by Europroteome in conjunction with the BEST(TM) Platform to accelerate
Miraculins' expansion into additional cancer areas in order to support a broad array of potential product offerings and to create numerous additional opportunities for the Company.
Miraculins recently announced the successful completion of its prostate cancer diagnostic discovery study. In that clinical investigation the Company was able to correctly identify cancer positives while correctly classifying those without cancer with a sensitivity and specificity of greater than 90%-90%. Markers in the study were discovered using Miraculins' BEST(TM) Platform, which utilizes the concurrent analysis of clinical factors and biological data, and a combination of proteomic, mass spectrometric, and protein chemistry. This is then followed by rigorous bioinformatic and statistical evaluation. Miraculins announced the initiation of its first additional cancer diagnostic discovery program in January, with the launch of its Breast Cancer discovery program.
The Company further announces that it has granted an aggregate of 25,000 stock options at an exercise price of $2.20 per common share to certain officers and directors of the Company. The options are set to expire five years from date of grant and are subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
About Miraculins Inc.
Miraculins is a biotechnology company focused on research and
development using its proprietary BEST(TM) platform for the screening and identification of target proteins and peptides related to diseases. The Company is developing products for the diagnosis and treatment of select cancers. Its lead product focuses on improving the diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is responsible for greater than 240,000 new diagnoses in North America each year. The current screening standard for prostate cancer, PSA, is ineffective at reliably distinguishing between non-life threatening prostate conditions and critical prostate cancer. In spite of this fact, there are greater than 25 million PSA tests performed
annually in the United States alone, resulting in one million prostate biopsy procedures. An estimated 75% of these procedures are unnecessary and could be avoided if a superior alternative to PSA was available.
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