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Lyon, November 8th, 2002
genOway reports the agreement with the major pharmaceutical company Bayer HealthCare AG. This agreement covers the development of genetically modified mouse models using the proprietary technology platform of genOway in order to provide Bayer HealthCare with animal models of high predictability within the shortest development time.
genOway S.A. (Lyon, France), the leading European provider in transgenesis and CopyRat Pty Ltd (Melbourne, Australia) a private biotechnology company, have joined forces to develop Knock-out - Knock-in rat models through a research partnership. Rat models are of prime importance for the development of new drugs in several large market therapeutic areas such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and neurological disorders.
Currently, the use of rat models has been limited by the lack of technologies to enable genetic modification of this animal. To overcome this limitation, genOway has achieved a leading position in the rat nuclear transfer field. One of the major achievements of genOway in this field was the generation of the first cloned rat embryo (introduced at the Cold Spring Harbor Meeting, NY, December 2001). The work was undertaken in collaboration with a team under Dr Jean-Paul Renard at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in Paris.
CopyRat has developed a leading position in rat embryology and a technology platform that allows the isolation, culture and genetic modification of rat stem cells.
genOway will use CopyRat's stem cells in its proprietary cloning procedures. Combining both technologies will enable the companies to bypass the major technological barriers to develop rat models. A number of preliminary results have highlighted the potential of this partnership. The research is expected to take less than 12 months to complete. Financial terms have not been disclosed.
"Combining both technologies paves the way for the generation of targeted genetic manipulations in rats. Such rat models will strongly increase the efficiency of bio-pharmaceutical R&D by providing disease models of higher predictability. CopyRat and genOway are in an optimal position to provide the industry with these models," said Dr Fraichard, CEO of genOway.
"The development of this technology is essential to enable the development of rat models of human diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and neurological disorders. Once developed, the rat models will play a critical role in the future development of improved treatments for these diseases," said CopyRat Chief Operating Officer, Dr Daniels.
CopyRat Pty Ltd is a spin out of Monash University, one of the world's leading research institutions in embryology and stem cell research. CopyRat has exclusive rights to intellectual property and know-how developed by Monash University in the areas of rat embryology and rat stem cells. CopyRat was established in August 2000 with the aim of becoming a world leading suppl rals of human disease to the biomedical industry and the academic community for medical research. CopyRat has developed a leading technology platform in rat embryology and the isolation and culture of rat stem cells, which will be critical to the development of the rat-cloning technology. Throubsidiary company, IngenKO, CopyRat currently provides mouse gene manipulation services to clients in Australia, USA, Europe, Japan and Asia.
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Paris-Lyon, April 24th, 2002
SERVIER and genOway S.A. have signed a multi target deal in the field of gene validation. This non-exclusive agreement covers the in vivo validation of gene targets identified at "Institut de Recherches Servier". genOway will apply its proprietary target validation technologies to provide Servier with predictable results on the quality of its targets. Increasing the predictability (being closer to human physiology) is the key strength of genOway’s technologies. This one-year deal is renewable annually. Financial conditions and therapeutic areas of interest were not disclosed.
"This agreement reinforces genOway’s leading position in the field of in vivo and in vitro target validation and is further confirmation that genOway’s expertise and original intellectual property makes it a potential partner for most research based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies\” said Alexandre Fraichard, CEO of genOway.
"The collaboration with Servier is a strong signal from a key industry player that genOway’s technological platform provides pharmaceutical companies with rapid and relevant gene validation. In 2002, genOway’s partners will benefit from proprietary homologous recombination technology Rapid Knock Out. Using our Rapid KO technology, target validation programs will be shortened by several months " continued Dr. Fraichard.
Servier is the largest privately-owned pharmaceutical company in France. It is the third ranked French drug group worldwide and the fourteenth in the European ranking of drug companies. Servier is a privately-owned company, established in 1954 by its founder and current Chairman, Jacques Servier, M.D. The Servier Group has 70 subsidiaries and markets it products in 140 countries with its main therapeutic products used to treat diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neuropsychiatric disorders, cancer, and bone and joint diseases. Servier has obtained regulatory approval for over 30 medicines originating from their own research over the past 30 years."
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