Re: TIS - Tissue Therapies
Ferrets Stock to Watch: TISSUE THERAPIES LTD
08:50, Wednesday, 31 January 2007
LOCAL BIOTECH COMPANY SIGNS WORLD-WIDE PROTEIN PLATFORM
Sydney - Wednesday - January 31: (RWE Aust Business News)
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OVERVIEW
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Tissue Therapies Ltd (ASX:TIS) has joined with the strength by
signing a world-wide exclusive agreement with Invitrogen Corporation.
It is a provider of essential life science technologies for
disease research and drug discovery for the promotion and sale of
VitroGro.
The product is used in live cell research for the production of
proteins and development of new health treatments.
Tissue Therapies's agreement will result in the world-wide
distribution of the synthetic VitroGro protein platform.
It will be used by biomedical scientists in research
institutions and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, who need,
or prefer to use, a completely synthetic, defined media for the growth
of cells and production of proteins.
Invitrogen Corporation is headquartered in Carlsbad, California,
and provides products and services that support academic and government
research institutions, as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies.
Products are sold directly in most major countries and through
distributors or agents in all others.
In 2007 the company is celebrating 20 years of accelerating
scientific discovery, including advancements in stem cell and chemically
defined media.
The VitroGro protein platform that will be sold world wide by
Invitrogen will be manufactured to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
standard.
This will substantially simplify experimental work on future
health and medical therapies developed or tested with live cells by
making regulatory approval for these treatments simpler, faster and less
expensive.
CEO Dr Steven Mercer said, "This is an exciting day for Tissue
Therapies.
"We are delighted to have formalised a world-wide sales and
distribution agreement for GMP VitroGro with Invitrogen, one of the most
sophisticated, innovative and well respected life science companies in
the world.
"We could not wish for a better partner to promote VitroGro to
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as academic and
government research institutions."
Joydeep Goswami, Vice President, Stem Cells and Regenerative
Medicine at Invitrogen said he believes VitroGro could provide an
excellent animal-origin free substrate for feeder-free culture of stem
cells.
"It is a natural fit with our efforts to provide a broad
portfolio of serum-free and defined products for stem cell culture to
stem cell researchers around the globe," Mr Goswami declared.
The demand for completely synthetic, defined media for biologic
research is expanding rapidly.
"There are many practical and technical advantages to biomedical
scientists in using cell growth media that contain only known,
characterised, synthetic proteins, particularly when the media is made to
GMP standards."
Dr Mercer explained, "To the best of our knowledge, the VitroGro
media to be sold by Invitrogen is the only completely synthetic, defined,
cell media available in the world today in which human stem cells can be
grown.
"This gives us a significant competitive advantage, particularly
when it is also made to GMP standards," he added.
Under the agreement, Tissue Therapies will supply VitroGro
manufactured under contract, at an agreed supply price to Invitrogen.
Additional Tissue Therapies revenue will be generated by
half-yearly royalty payments as well as additional one-time payments on
the achievement of agreed milestones.
Sales are expected to start early in the second half of calendar
2007.
SHARE PRICE MOVEMENTS
*********************
Shares of Tissue Therapies rose 12c to 60.5c on Monday and
touched 72c after the agreement news, but slipped half a cent to 60c
yesterday. Rolling high for the year is 72c and low 35c. The company has
20 million shares on issue while the market cap is $12.2 million.
Research into the core cell replication, protein synthesis and
migration technologies will continue to build on the basic VitroGro
intellectual property.
Technical founders and key research team from the Queensland
University of Technology (QUT) are:
* Consulting chief scientific officer Professor Zee Upton.
Under an agreement with QUT, Professor Upton is consulting Chief
Scientific Officer and head of the research team at QUT.
She brings significant expertise in growth factor protein,
molecular and cellular technologies to the project, including the
recombinant production of proteins.
* Dr Shooter is a Research Fellow within the Tissue
Bioregeneration and Integration program at QUT.
* Dr David Leavesley brings cellular and molecular research
technology expertise to the project.
The commercialisation and licensing team comprises Dr Mercer, who
brings considerable international expertise to Tissue Therapies following
a successful career with multinational companies; Chief Operating Officer
Nigel Johnson, who was recruited from the Australian Red Cross Blood
Service (ARCBS) where he was responsible for operational and regulatory
activities at the ARCBS Skin Bank; and Administrative Officer Abrona
Chappell, who joined Tissue Therapies in September 2004 to conduct the
company's administrative and co-ordination activities.
BACKGROUND
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Tissue Therapies Ltd was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange
on March 19, 2004.
The company was incorporated in 2002 to commercialise Tissue
Culture and Repair technology from the Queensland University of
Technology (QUT) in Brisbane.
It is an Australian company developing biomedical technologies
for wound healing, tissue and various cell culture applications.
The company has worldwide exclusive rights to commercialise
VitroGro, a platform technology developed by tissue engineering experts
at the Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation at QUT for
enhancing cell growth and migration.
VitroGro has particular commercial applications in wound
healing, tissue regeneration, stem cell therapies and other cell culture
uses.
Based on its VitroGro platform technology, Tissue Therapies is
developing more effective medical treatments for wounds and burns,
integration of orthopaedic and medical implants, and other applications
such as cosmeceuticals.
Tissue Therapies also provides cell culture reagents to enhance
the growth of mammalian cells for emerging cell-based therapies, along
with research and industrial cell culture markets internationally.
Invitrogen Corporation provides products and services that
support academic and government research institutions and pharmaceutical
and biotech companies worldwide in their efforts to improve the human
condition.
The company provides essential life science technologies for
disease research, drug discovery, and commercial bioproduction.
Invitrogen's own research and development efforts are focused on
breakthrough innovation in all major areas of biological discovery
including functional genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and cell
biology - placing Invitrogen's products in nearly every major laboratory
in the world.
Invitrogen globally employs about 5,000 scientists and other
professionals and had revenues of more than $1.2 billion in 2006.
ENDS
Copyright © 2007 RWE Australian Business News. All rights reserved.