QUEBEC CITY, QC and SAINT PAUL, MN, Jan. 16, 2012 /CNW/ - Medicago Inc. (MDG: TSX), a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus Like Particles, and Cellectis plant sciences, a subsidiary of Cellectis SA (Alternext: ALCLS), the French specialist in genome engineering, today announced the signing of a research agreement under which Medicago and Cellectis will collaborate to improve therapeutic proteins expressed from tobacco leaves.
"We look forward to working with Cellectis plant sciences to assess their nuclease technology for use in our ongoing work to develop biosimilar products," said Dr. Louis-Philippe Vezina, Chief Scientific Officer of Medicago. "This tool has the potential to hasten the expansion of our platform towards the production of a wider range of therapeutic proteins including biosimilars, and complement our existing tools for the control of protein glycosylation."
Luc Mathis, CEO of Cellectis plant sciences commented, "I am very proud to see the Cellectis technology being applied for use in plants to produce potential products for human health benefit, and expect that we will see additional opportunities for our technology in the near future."
Cellectis manufactures DNA scissors called nucleases that can cut precise DNA sequences allowing for the creation of a wide range of specific tools to modify a target gene. Cellectis' innovative nucleases have the potential to enable the modification of protein glycosylation patterns in plants with unprecedented control and uniformity, allowing for increased efficacy of therapeutic products. Using nucleases, it is possible to generate a large array of specific glycoprotein variants, and select the best candidate with the optimal glycosylation and produce it at large scale using Medicago's plant-based manufacturing technology. This approach may be applied to optimize efficacy and other protein characteristics such as solubility, therapeutic half-life, tissue distribution and interaction with complement proteins.
About Medicago
Medicago is committed to provide highly effective and
competitive vaccines based on proprietary VLP and
manufacturing technologies. Medicago is developing VLP
vaccines to protect against pandemic and seasonal influenza,
using a transient expression system which produces
recombinant vaccine antigens in the cells of non-transgenic
plants. This technology has potential to offer advantages of
speed and cost over competitive technologies. It promises a
vaccine for testing in about a month after the identification
and reception of genetic sequences from a pandemic strain.
This production time frame has the potential to allow
vaccination of the population before the first wave of a
pandemic strikes and to supply large volumes of vaccine
antigens to the world market. Additional information about
Medicago is available at .
About Cellectis plant sciences
Established in March 2010, Cellectis plant sciences is a
subsidiary of Cellectis dedicated to the applications of
meganucleases in plants. Its main mission is to increase and
accelerate usage of Cellectis' proprietary technology in
agricultural biology, broaden the company's platform to
attract new and expanded licensing opportunities and explore
the development of proprietary traits for selected
applications. Cellectis plant sciences is located in Saint
Paul, Minnesota, USA. Professor Daniel Voytas, Chief
Scientific Officer of Cellectis plant sciences, is also
Director of the University of Minnesota Center for Genome
Engineering.
About Cellectis
Cellectis improves life by applying its genome engineering
expertise to a broad range of applications, including
agriculture, bioresearch and human therapeutics. Cellectis is
listed on the NYSE-Euronext Alternext market (code: ALCLS) in
Paris. For further information about Cellectis. Follow
Cellectis.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release includes certain forward-looking statements
that are based upon current expectations, which involve risks
and uncertainties associated with Medicago's business and
the environment in which the business operates. Any
statements contained herein that are not statements of
historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking,
including those identified by the expressions
"anticipate", "believe",
"plan", "estimate", "expect",
"intend", and similar expressions to the extent
they relate to Medicago or its management. The
forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but
reflect Medicago's current expectations regarding future
results or events. These forward-looking statements are
subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results or events to differ materially from
current expectations, including the matters discussed under
"Risks Factors and Uncertainties" in Medicago's
Annual Information Form filed on March 31, 2011 with the
regulatory authorities. Medicago assumes no obligation to
update the forward-looking statements, or to update the
reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected
in the forward-looking statements.
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