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Chemicon International Announces Agreement With Axordia for Exclusive Co-Development of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Antibody Markers

Posted on: Friday, 30 September 2005, 09:00 CDT

Serologicals Corporation (NASDAQ: SERO) announced today that Chemicon International, Inc., its wholly-owned subsidiary, and Axordia Ltd. have signed an exclusive agreement to co-develop new antibody markers from Axordia's proprietary human embryonic stem (ES) cell lines. Under the terms of this agreement, Axordia will contribute proprietary expertise and materials for antibody generation and antibody characterization and Chemicon will commercialize the new antibody research tools arising from this collaboration.

Through this agreement, Chemicon will be able to supply new antibody markers to the worldwide ES cell research community. Chemicon is recognized as a worldwide leader in providing antibodies and other reagents, kits, and cell culture supplements to the academic, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology markets.

Axordia, based in Sheffield, is one of the UK's leading stem cell research companies and has two of the world's leading scientists in this field in Professors Peter Andrews and Harry Moore. Professor Andrews was one of the first researchers in Britain to study the human ES cell lines and his work on human ES cells follows pioneering work in the study of human Embryonal Carcinoma cells, a malignant equivalent of human ES cells, which defined many tools that now underpin the study of human ES cells. Professor Moore is a leader in human ES cell derivation and recently announced work showing that human ES cells can form the precursors of sperm and eggs in the laboratory.

"Chemicon is pleased to be entering into this exclusive collaborative agreement with Axordia, and its world class scientists, in the stem cell marker field. This Agreement will allow us to expand our successful portfolio of stem cell antibody reagents," said Jeffrey D. Linton, President of Chemicon. "New antibodies resulting from this exclusive collaboration will increase the inventive process already being provided by Chemicon to thousands of human ES cell researchers worldwide. In addition, we look forward to furthering our collaboration with Axordia to co-develop and market additional innovative human ES cell products," stated Mr. Linton.

"Axordia believes that antibodies along with other key discovery technologies will be crucial in enabling stem cells to deliver their full potential to palliate and cure some of the most debilitating diseases. Our partnership with a market leader in research and drug discovery tools represents a powerful step in bringing this potential forward and is recognition of our world class expertise in developing the tools needed to make the promise of stem cell technology a reality," said Dr. V. Paul Gerskowitch, CEO of Axordia.

Chemicon International, Inc. offers a broad range of research products, including specialty reagents, kits, antibodies, and custom products and services, to customers working in the areas of neuroscience, stem cell biology, cancer, and infectious disease research. It is also a leading supplier of monoclonal antibodies, conjugates, antibody blends and molecular-based detection kits for use in diagnostic laboratories. Chemicon focuses on basic and biomedical research, drug discovery, and diagnostics, allowing it to serve thousands of customers worldwide in the academic, clinical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sectors. Acquired in 2003, Chemicon is a Serologicals company, based in Temecula, CA.

For more information, please visit our website: www.chemicon.com.

Serologicals Corporation (NASDAQ: SERO), headquartered in Atlanta, GA., is a global leader in developing and commercializing consumable biological products, enabling technologies and services in support of biological research, drug discovery, and the bioprocessing of life-enhancing products. Our customers include researchers at major life science companies and leading research institutions involved in key disciplines, such as neurology, oncology, hematology, immunology, cardiology, proteomics, infectious diseases, cell signaling and stem cell research. In addition, Serologicals is the world's leading provider of monoclonal antibodies for the blood typing industry. Serologicals employs a total of more than 1,000 people worldwide in three Serologicals' companies: Chemicon International, headquartered in Temecula, CA, Upstate Group, LLC, headquartered in Charlottesville, VA. and Celliance Corporation, headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

For more information, please visit our website: www.serologicals.com.

Axordia Limited is one of the UK's leading stem cell research companies. A Biofusion spin-out company from the University of Sheffield, it has a number of proprietary human ES cell lines, a portfolio of patent protected technologies that can be used to control human ES cell behaviour and a pipeline agreement to draw on research findings originating from the University of Sheffield Centre for Stem Cell Biology (CSCB), one of the foremost embryonic stem cell research groups in the world. The CSCB is co-directed by Axordia's founding directors Professors Peter Andrews and Harry Moore. Axordia has a three pronged commercial strategy - to develop propriety hES cell therapeutic programs that exploit its existing IPR, to develop hES technologies that support drug R&D in which Axordia can provide defined human cell lines and the provision of hES tools to the stem cell industry and pharmaceutical companies that exploit Axordia's capacity for the derivation of GMP hES cell lines.

For more information, please visit: www.axordia.com.

This release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words or phrases such as "should result,""are expected to,""we estimate,""we project" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the value of the licensed research tools and the utility of the licensed research tools to researchers. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, since the statements speak only as of the date that they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements based on events that may occur after the date of this press release.

Serologicals is a registered trademark of Serologicals Investment Company.

Source: Business Wire

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