CMC Biologics Licenses Its CHEF1® Expression System to Oxford BioTherapeutics

SEATTLE, COPENHAGEN, Denmark and OXFORD, England, September 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

CMC Biologics and Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) today announced that they have entered into a non-exclusive license agreement providing OBT with access to CMC Biologics' CHEF1® expression system. The agreement, financial terms of which have not been disclosed, covers the research, development, and commercial use of the system by OBT. CMC Biologics' CHEF1 cell line development platform promotes high level expression of recombinant proteins early in development and allows rapid isolation of cell lines, delivering stable, production-quality cell lines in as little as 12 weeks. The technology behind CHEF1 is proven, having been previously employed for a marketed biologic.

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OBT intends to use the CHEF1 system for the efficient production of its oncologic therapeutic antibodies, each of which is directed to a novel target identified by OBT using its OGAP® proteomic database. The license to CHEF1 signifies the continued expansion of OBT's access to world-class antibody technologies and demonstrates OBT's commitment to strengthening its production and preclinical capabilities as its pipeline matures.

"We are very pleased to add CMC Biologics' CHEF1 system to our technology portfolio. Access to the best expression systems is critical for our antibody development team, helping us accelerate production and development of our most promising anticancer agents," commented Tom Boone, who recently joined OBT as Senior Vice President, Protein Sciences, following 28 years at Amgen.

"By licensing industry-leading technologies, such as the CHEF1 system, OBT further increases its research and development capabilities in line with our strategy to advance our pipeline of therapeutic antibodies toward clinical development," noted Jon Terrett, OBT's Chief Scientific Officer.

"CMC Biologics is delighted to provide its CHEF1 expression system to OBT," said Mads Laustsen, Chief Scientific Officer of CMC Biologics. "We believe the advantages of the CHEF1 system will help OBT generate cell lines in a highly efficient and effective way."

About Oxford BioTherapeutics

Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) is a leading international biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative antibody-based cancer medicines, with integrated diagnostics, against novel targets that it has discovered in its unique OGAP® proteomic database. OBT accesses leading antibody technologies and expertise through its partnerships with many of the world leaders in antibody development, including the BMS (Medarex) HuMAb platform, the Amgen (Abgenix) Xenomouse™ platform, the transgenic phage technology of Alere (formerly Biosite) and the POTELLIGENT® Technology of BioWa, and through its development alliances with GSK and Sanofi-Aventis. OBT's diagnostic collaboration with Alere also provides the opportunity to develop tailored diagnostics for OBT's therapeutic products. These partnerships have enabled OBT to use its unique position to convert its novel oncology targets into a highly attractive pipeline of therapeutic antibodies. OBT's pipeline will deliver innovative and cost-effective first-in-class medicines to fulfil major unmet patient needs in the field of cancer.

For further information, please see http://www.OxfordBioTherapeutics.com

About CMC Biologics

CMC Biologics (http://www.cmcbio.com) is a dedicated contract biopharmaceutical manufacturing and development organization with facilities in Copenhagen, Denmark and Seattle, Washington, USA. CMC Biologics specializes in custom services for scale up and cGMP manufacture of protein-based therapeutics for preclinical, clinical trials, and in-market production. The Company's fully integrated services includes cell line development using its proprietary CHEF1® system, process and formulation development, and comprehensive analytical testing. CMC Biologics has fully segregated microbial fermentation and mammalian cell culture suites and offers stirred tank and perfusion production processes. For more information, please visit http://www.cmcbio.com.

About the CHEF1® Expression System

The CHEF1 expression plasmid is the technological foundation of CMC Biologics' cell line development platform. Utilizing the regulatory sequences of the Chinese hamster EF-1a (CHEF1) gene, the CHEF1 vectors promote constitutive high-level expression of recombinant proteins early in development and have been successfully used to create manufacturing cell lines expressing a variety of different recombinant proteins, including difficult-to-express glycoproteins. The CHEF1 system allows rapid isolation of stable CHO cell lines because gene amplification is not required to achieve high level expression, saving many months of development. CMC Biologics' CHEF1 cell line development platform delivers stable production-quality cell lines in rapid timeframes, typically producing gram quantities of protein in 7 to 8 weeks from transfection and production-quality clones in 11 to 14 weeks. A variety of CHEF1 vectors are available with different selectable markers permitting expression of heterodimeric proteins as well as modification enzymes to improve product quality or expression levels. The technology behind CHEF1 is proven, having been previously employed for a marketed biologic.

About OGAP®

The Oxford Genome Anatomy Project (OGAP) database represents the world's largest proprietary collection of disease-associated proteins. OGAP oncology contains proteomic data on 5,000 cancer membrane proteins combined with their genomic and clinical information derived from human blood and cancer tissue studies. OGAP contains proprietary target information on three quarters of the entire human proteome. Over one million human protein fragments have been sequenced in OGAP in 50 different human tissues representing 60 diseases including 25 forms of cancer covering 17,000 different genes and over three quarters of all human proteins and genetics variants in over eight million SNPs and haplotypes.