News

Lipoxen announces collaboration agreements with Baxter Healthcare & two other biopharmaceutical companies

27 September 2005

London, UK, 27 September 2005 Lipoxen Technologies Ltd, the drug and vaccine delivery company, has signed major research and product collaboration agreements with Baxter Healthcare Corp, the Serum Institute of India and National Biotechnologies OAO.

The recent collaboration agreement with Baxter Healthcare (NYSE?) will focus on an initial seven month research period to investigate the effectiveness of conjugating Baxter’s proprietary proteins with PolyXen®, Lipoxen’s proprietary technology. PolyXen is a natural polymer (polysialic acid) that can prolong the active life and improve the pharmacokinetics of conventional drugs and biologicals. It is considered a next generation drug delivery technology.

Lipoxen has also finalised an extended agreement with its current partner the Serum Institute of India, expanding the number of blockbuster drugs the two companies are collaborating on, and facilitating access to the major Western markets. These products include erythropoietin (EPO), paclitaxel and a pneumococcal vaccine.

Additionally, Lipoxen will receive an initial $750,000 in upfront payments plus royalties from National Biotechnologies OAO for licensing Lipoxen’s proprietary extended release insulin and interferon product candidates for Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan markets.

Scott Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen said “These new agreements, along with our existing agreements with three of the four world’s largest biotechnology companies, mean these are very exciting times for Lipoxen and the combination of cutting edge proprietary technologies, strategic partnerships and a broad product candidate portfolio translates into a very strong business backed by very compelling science. The quality of our partners underlines the potential of our drug delivery technologies.”

Norbert Riedel, Ph.D., CSO at Baxter commented “Baxter continues to apply its own scientific resources and leverage strategic collaborations with biotechnology companies, in order to improve hemophilia therapy. This agreement with Lipoxen reflects our focus on advancing hemophilia therapy and evaluating promising technologies aimed at extending the duration of action of blood clotting factors.”

Dr Kapre, CEO of SIIL, said “Our agreement now expands the reach of our collaboration for four potential blockbuster candidates to the major Western markets, including US, Europe and Japan. SIIL considers the Lipoxen partnership as playing a critical role in accessing these drug and vaccine markets.”

Sir Brian Richards joins the Board of Lipoxen Technologies

London, UK, 25 May 2005 Lipoxen Technologies Ltd, the drug and vaccine delivery company, today announced the appointment of Sir Brian Richards CBE to its Board as Non-Executive Chairman. In this role he will guide Lipoxen through the next stages of development as it seeks to develop protein therapeutics and vaccines based on its drug and vaccine delivery technologies, PolyXen™ and ImuXen™ respectively.

Sir Brian brings a wealth of experience in developing and building some of Europe’s leading biotech companies. After 13 years of basic research at the Medical Research Council’s Biophysics Research Unit at Kings College, London and 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, he co-founded British Bio-technology Ltd in 1986 and served as Executive Chairman until 1994. He subsequently held Non-Executive Chairmanships or Directorships in several biopharmaceutical companies including Peptide Therapeutics (later Acambis plc), Oxford Biomedica plc and CeNeS Ltd. Currently Sir Brian chairs the Boards of Alizyme plc, Cozart plc and MAN Mail (Guernsey) Ltd. Throughout his industrial career he served on a series of government committees aiming to facilitate and encourage the practical applications of generic modification for the development of biopharmaceuticals. Sir Brian was awarded a CBE in 1990 and a knighthood in 1997; both awards were for services to the biotechnology industry.

Scott Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen said: "I am delighted that we have been able to attract such a high calibre individual to our Board. Sir Brian’s experience in building some of the largest European biotech companies will be an invaluable resource for Lipoxen as we exploit our proprietary technologies. His strategic insight and guidance will greatly assist the Company in realising the potential of our extensive pipeline of protein therapeutics and vaccines, and our global collaborations.

Lipoxen Technologies Ltd of London Announce a ‘Landmark’ Product Development Programme with Serum Institute of India Ltd. for the Development of Eight New Protein Drugs and Vaccines
(London December 16, 2004)

In a landmark licensing agreement representing the cutting edge of innovation in new business practice, London-based Lipoxen Technologies Ltd. has teamed up with leading Indian pharmaceutical company Serum Institute of India Ltd. in a major product development programme that will rival the pipelines of major western pharma companies by using enhanced delivery to produce superior products with improved efficacy and lesser side effects.

The agreement combines Lipoxen’s strengths in intellectual property and innovation in the drug delivery field, represented by its proprietary drug and vaccine delivery platforms PolyXen® and ImuXen®, with the expertise in clinical development and GMP manufacture of Serum Institute, who are the World’s largest supplier of vaccine products.

The agreement involves eight new product candidates in total, including protein drugs such as GCSF and EPO (representing two of the largest pharmaceutical markets, in excess of $7Bn); anti-cancer drugs such as doxorubicin; and vaccines, including an improved form of the pneumococcal vaccine, designed to out-perform the leading pneumococcal vaccine products (comprising a $1Bn market). The Serum Institute provides the active ingredients and Lipoxen provide the enhanced delivery systems. By focusing on known active ingredients with proven efficacy in man, the prospects of success are much higher than for new drug development programmes based on novel chemical entities.

Scott Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen, says: “This agreement ranks as a landmark for the British biotechnology industry in general, and for our Company in particular, through its broad scope of new products and development services”. “It accelerates the pace of product development considerably by brining to bear the great manufacturing power and clinical expertise of Serum Institute applied to a raft of new product candidates, made possible by Lipoxen’s delivery technologies, each of which has world-leading potential”.

Lipoxen’s PolyXen® technology is based on polysialic acid, which is a human polymer that extends the duration of action of protein and small molecule drugs, improving their efficacy and immunological properties, while minimising side-effects. PolyXen® achieves these advantages in a natural way, preserving the biological activity of the drug, but ultimately becoming degraded and recycled by the body to useful metabolites. ImuXen® is a versatile and biodegradable liposomal carrier system which enhances the performance of vaccine materials by directing them to appropriate cells of the immune system. The nano-encapsulation technology that underlies ImuXen® is highly efficient and avoids side-effects by the gradual, targeted release of vaccine materials to the immune system.

“This agreement goes further than outsourcing” says Mr Maguire. “It will be mutually beneficial. In addition, it will be commercially valuable by allowing the simultaneous launch of new products leading to a faster payback of R&D investment. In fact we expect human data to be generated in 2005 – a remarkably short timeframe.”

Serum Institute retains control of marketing in India, Africa, Asia (except Japan) and Latin America, taking advantage of their existing distribution infrastructure. Lipoxen retains control of marketing and sub-licensing in the major market territories and seeks collaboration partners for the marketing of these products in such territories.

A signing ceremony related to the agreement between Lipoxen Technologies Ltd and the Serum Institute of India took place in Mumbai on 14 January 2005. The signing was witnessed by The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt, MP, Secretary of State for Trade & Industry and Minister for Women, UK. Lipoxen Technologies Ltd was represented by its founder Professor Gregory Gregoriadis and the Serum Institute of India by its Chairman Dr Cyrus Poonawalla.

Mr Scott Maguire, Lipoxen’s CEO commented: with this alliance, we now have a pipeline (10 proprietary product candidates) that would be the envy of any mid sized biopharma company.