Saint Paul, MN, December 16, 2009: Syntiron announced today that it has granted sanofi pasteur an exclusive world-wide license to its human vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus. The agreement includes an undisclosed initial licensing fee, milestone payments and royalty payments on future sales of the product. Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA (pronounced Mer-sa) is an important hospital-acquired infection and is a major cause of illness and death resulting in excess of 18,000 US deaths a year and a half million hospitalizations, creating a significant economic burden of approximately $3.4 billion annually to the American health care system.
Syntiron is a private biotech company located in St. Paul, Minnesota; its mission is the prevention and treatment of human disease resulting from bacterial infection. Under the terms of the agreement, sanofi pasteur will support the joint, pre-clinical development of the product, working cooperatively with Syntiron, and be responsible for all future developments, regulatory approval, and commercialization of the vaccine. Neither company spelled out the terms, but Syntiron gets an upfront payment, research funding and is eligible for development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments that could reach $149 million in total. Syntiron also stands to earn royalties on sales of products commercialized under the license and collaboration.
About Syntiron’s Technology
Syntiron holds the exclusive license to the human applications of the Epitopix patented SRP® technology which Epitopix already markets to the veterinary market. These vaccines have proven safe and effective against a variety of animal bacterial infections, and are approved and marketed for use in cattle in the prevention of Salmonella and E. coli infections.
About Syntiron
Syntiron is the recipient of a number of grants from the National Institutes of Health for the development of vaccines to prevent infections by Yersinia, Salmonella and Staphylococcus bacteria.
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In November 2008, Syntiron was awarded a $4 million contract from the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for early stage development of vaccines against three potential bacterial bioterrorism threats.
“We are exceptionally pleased to be working co-operatively with sanofi pasteur and believe this is a recognition of the exceptional quality of the Syntiron team and their scientific effort and validates the potential of the Syntiron technology. I would like to express our appreciation to our employees, and the Epitopix inventors whose teamwork and commitment to excellence consistently delivers exceptional results” said Joseph Shaw, Syntiron’s CEO. Syntiron was represented by Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. on the transaction.
Disclaimer
Statements in this press release other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. These potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the ability of sanofi pasteur to terminate the agreement; the uncertainties inherent in research and development; the strategy of sanofi pasteur with respect to the development and commercialization of products, which strategy may change from time to time; decisions by regulatory authorities regarding whether and when to approve any applications that may be filed, as well as the decisions of such authorities with respect to labeling and other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of products in development; the ability of Syntiron and sanofi pasteur to obtain effective patent protection with respect to products in development, and to enforce such patents against any alleged infringers; competition from other pharmaceutical companies; and changes in economic conditions in the pharmaceutical industry or more generally. |
