iBio, Inc. (OTCBB: IBPM), its development collaborator, Fraunhofer USA
Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB), and GE Healthcare, a unit of
General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), today announced their entry into an
agreement to jointly develop and globally market manufacturing solutions
for biopharmaceuticals and vaccines based upon their respective
proprietary technologies. Financial terms are not being disclosed.
This new business initiative combines the value of GE Healthcare’s
capabilities and worldwide presence in life sciences, iBio’s highly
efficient iBioLaunch™ plant-based vaccine and therapeutic protein
manufacturing platform, and CMB’s advanced vaccine and molecular biology
expertise.
iBioLaunch plant-based technology enables the production of vaccine and
therapeutic proteins at substantially lower capital and operating costs
than are possible with other technologies. GE Healthcare has developed
solutions and offerings including those which enable customers to build
processes and facilities based on single-use and ready-to-use
technologies.
In this collaboration with iBio and CMB, GE Healthcare will supply
bioprocessing products and process expertise for integration with the
iBioLaunch platform. It will also support the development of products
based on the iBioLaunch platform and product offering.
The manufacturing solutions covered by the agreement include product
licenses, technology transfer services, design of upstream and
downstream manufacturing processes; supplies of equipment, consumables
and related validation support, construction of buildings, facility
operations and related financial services.
“This is an exciting development in GE Healthcare’s strategy to deliver
more efficient and cost-effective biopharmaceutical and vaccine
manufacturing technologies,” said Peter Ehrenheim, President and CEO,
Life Sciences, GE Healthcare.
“We expect this relationship with GE Healthcare to accelerate and
broaden market penetration for our technology through access to GE
Healthcare’s existing relationships and its skill and experience with
project implementation and process development,” said Robert B. Kay,
Chairman and CEO of iBio. “This is another implementation of our model
to affiliate and out-source with best-in-class collaborators like GE
Healthcare and CMB as the fastest and lowest risk path to revenue
growth.”
“We have already done considerable planning and work with GE Healthcare
to prepare for implementation of this agreement,” said Dr. Vidadi
Yusibov, Executive Director of CMB and Chief Scientific Officer of iBio.
“Therefore, we expect this relationship to start quickly and continue
long after its initial three-year term to provide important results for
our collective customers as we combine GE Healthcare’s products, skills
and relationships with the technology we developed and are implementing
in our new Delaware facility.”
About iBio, Inc.
iBio, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company commercializing its
proprietary technology, the iBioLaunch™ platform, for the production of
biologics including vaccines and therapeutic proteins. The iBioLaunch
platform uses transient gene expression in green plants for superior
efficiency in protein production. Advantages include significantly lower
capital and process costs, and the technology is ideally suited to
infectious disease applications where speed, scalability, and surge
capacity are important. iBio’s strategy is to utilize its technology for
development and manufacture of its own product candidates and work with
both corporate and government clients to reduce their costs during
product development and meet their needs for low cost, high quality
biologics manufacturing systems. iBio owns technology developed at the
Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology, and continues to
sponsor development and refinement of the technology for broad
applications in human healthcare. Further information is available at .
About GE Healthcare:
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and
services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise
in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics,
patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical
manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance
solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more
people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with
healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change
necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare
systems.
Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join
us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on
reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency
around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is
a $16 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: ). Worldwide, GE
Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving
healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.
For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at .
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About Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology
Fraunhofer USA CMB, a division of Fraunhofer USA, Inc., is a
not-for-profit research organization whose mission is to develop safe
and effective vaccines targeting infectious diseases and autoimmune
disorders. The technology CMB developed for iBio, Inc. provides a safe,
rapid and economical alternative for both vaccine and therapeutic
protein production. The Center conducts research in the area of plant
biotechnology, utilizing new, cutting edge technologies applicable to
the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of human and animal diseases.
The Center houses individuals with expertise and excellence in plant
virology, pathology, molecular biology, immunology, vaccinology, protein
engineering, and biochemistry. Further information is available at .
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995:
Statements included in this release related to iBio, Inc. may
constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve a
number of risks and uncertainties such as competitive factors,
technological development, market demand, and the Company's ability to
obtain new contracts and accurately estimate net revenues due to
variability in size, scope and duration of projects. Further information
on potential risk factors that could affect the Company's financial
results can be found in the company's Reports filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
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