Company now has broad IP for both the practice of its technology and the commercialization of products.
GTC Biotherapeutics was granted a non-exclusive, worldwide license from Start Licensing, a joint venture between Geron and Exeter Life Sciences, for the patents and patent applications developed by the Roslin Institute to apply nuclear transfer to the production of therapeutic proteins in the milk of transgenic animals.
Financial terms include an upfront payment of $200,000 to Start and a total of 278,370 shares of GTC common stock, based on the 10-day average closing price ending April 5, divided equally between Start and Exeter. There will also be a royalty payable to Start for those products developed with the patented nuclear transfer technology. The license agreement remains in place through the last patent to expire, which is expected in 2016 for the currently issued patents.
“We are pleased to enter into this licensing agreement to ensure we have the freedom to operate those programs where the application of nuclear transfer is appropriate for product development,” states Geoffrey F. Cox, Ph.D., GTC’s chairman and CEO. “Our intellectual property portfolio provides patent protection for both the practice of our technology and the commercialization of our products. Last year, we received a patent in the United States for the production of therapeutic proteins in the milk of any transgenic mammal through 2021. This broad and long-lived intellectual property, all of which is independent of traditional bioreactor-based intellectual property, supports our strategic focus on the development and commercialization of recombinant plasma proteins and monoclonal antibodies.”
