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BioWa Licenses POTELLIGENT(R) Technology to Major Pharmaceutical Company for Use in Antibody Research and Development

Posted on: Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 06:00 CDT

PRINCETON, N.J., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- BioWa, Inc. announced today that it has licensed its POTELLIGENT(R) Technology to Novartis for the development of antibody therapeutics with enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC).

The license provides Novartis with access to BioWa's POTELLIGENT(R) Technology platform to research, develop, manufacture, and commercialize ADCC-enhanced antibodies for an undisclosed number of targets. In return, BioWa will receive license fees, development milestone payments and royalties on products developed by Novartis. Additional terms were not disclosed.

"POTELLIGENT(R) Technology has shown its clinical benefits in various clinical trials for oncology and inflammatory diseases," said Dr. Masamichi Koike, President and CEO of BioWa. "We are pleased to make this technology available to a world-wide, industry leader like Novartis. We believe that this agreement significantly helps us to maximize the value of POTELLIGENT(R) Technology and to fulfill our mission to bring the benefit of the technology to patients in need as quickly as possible."

About POTELLIGENT(R) Technology

POTELLIGENT(R) Technology improves potency and efficacy of antibody therapeutics by enhancing ADCC, one of the major mechanisms of action for antibody therapeutics. POTELLIGENT(R) Technology involves the reduction of the amount of fucose in the carbohydrate structure of an antibody using a proprietary fucosyltransferase-knockout CHO cell line as a production cell. Research shows that POTELLIGENT(R) Technology dramatically enhances ADCC activity of an antibody in vitro, and significantly increases potency and efficacy of the antibody in vivo. A number of POTELLIGENT(R) antibodies are being investigated in human clinical trials.

About BioWa, Inc.

BioWa is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd. , Japan's leading pharmaceutical and largest biotech company, and is the exclusive worldwide licensor of AccretaMab(TM) platform. AccretaMab(TM) platform consists of POTELLIGENT(R) and COMPLEGENT(TM) Technologies, creating a superior antibody molecule with enhanced ADCC and CDC activities. BioWa is offering POTELLIGENT(R) and COMPLEGENT(TM) Technologies to partners under a license to maximize the value of these technologies. In addition, BioWa is focused on development of ADCC/CDC enhanced monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics to fight cancer and other life-threatening and debilitating diseases. Both BioWa and Kyowa have POTELLIGENT(R) antibody products at various clinical stages. For more information about BioWa, visit its web site at http://www.biowa.com/.

POTELLIGENT(R), COMPLEGENT(TM), and AccretaMab(TM) are the trademarks of Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd. All rights are reserved.

BioWa, Inc.

CONTACT: Masamichi Koike, Ph.D., President and CEO of BioWa, Inc.,+1-609-734-3420

Web site: http://www.biowa.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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