DARMSTADT, Germany, and ABERDEEN, Scotland, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ --
Merck KGaA announced today that its affiliate Biovation Ltd. of Aberdeen, UK,
has expanded its operations by opening of a U.S. office in Research Triangle
Park, North Carolina.
Biovation's contact person at the new office will be Hank Nowak, Manager
of Business Development. "Hank will be responsible for all business
development activities in North America," said Fiona Adair, Director of
Business Development. "The opening of our new US office reflects our
increasing activity and commitment to our partners in North America."
Biovation is a UK based antibody and protein company with a proprietary
technology, De-Immunisation, designed to genetically engineer antibodies and
other proteins for administration to humans without immunogenicity. All
biologics, even fully-human antibodies and human derived proteins, can
potentially cause an adverse immune response when administered to patients.
De-Immunisation provides a means for re-engineering these molecules to
eliminate this risk and generate biologics suitable for multiple dose, chronic
administration. Biovation has successfully applied De-Immunisation to a
variety of antibody and protein products, principally through partnerships
with biopharmaceutical companies worldwide.
Background on Biovation Ltd.
Biovation Ltd. (Internet: http://www.biovation.co.uk ) is a UK-based antibody
and protein engineering company which uses its proprietary De-Immunisation
technology to take its partners' therapeutics through the barriers of
immunogenic side effects. All antibodies, even humanised and fully human, can
potentially cause an adverse immune response when administered to patients.
De-Immunisation reduces that risk by identifying and eliminating potentially
immunogenic sequences of the therapeutic molecule, while retaining efficacy.
Since 1998, Biovation has established collaborations with 16 companies in the
US, Europe, Asia and Australasia. The five collaborations formed since
Biovation was acquired by Merck KGaA in October 2000 are with: Procyon
Biopharma (Canada), Viragen Inc. (USA), Epicyte Pharmaceuticals Inc. (USA),
Corixa Corp.(USA) and an other undisclosed US firm. In a collaboration with
Cornell University, Biovation has created a DeImmunised antibody for the
treatment of prostate cancer, which has proven non-immunogenic in Phase I
clinical trials. Biovation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck KGaA and
operates as an independent company within the Merck group.
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Headquartered in Darmstadt/Germany, the Merck Group generated sales of
EUR 6,7 billion in 2000 in the fields of Pharmaceuticals, Specialty Chemicals,
Lab Products and Lab Distribution. Founded in 1668, the Merck Group is
represented today by more than 200 companies in 52 countries and employs
34,300 people worldwide. The company groups its operating activities under
Merck KGaA, in which E. Merck, as a general partner, holds the Merck family's
74 percent equity interest in Merck KGaA. The Merck Group strongly believes
that promotion of its employees' self-initiative and self-responsibility,
application-oriented research and development and close customer relationships
in the markets are the keys to long-term corporate success.
SOURCE Merck KGaA
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Related links:
http://www.biovation.co.uk
http://www.merck.de/subscribe
CONTACT:
Fiona Adair, Director of Business Development
of Biovation UK, +44-1224-707337, or Fiona.Adair@biovation.co.uk,
or Hank Nowak, Manager of Business Development, of Biovation
U.S., +1-919-401-7251, or Hank.Nowak@biovation.co.uk
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