February 21, 2008 — /BUSINESS WIRE/ — BILLERICA, MA — Millipore Corp. (NYSE:MIL) today announced that it has entered into a worldwide, non-exclusive license agreement with Bayer HealthCare AG, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, to use Millipore’s UCOETM (ubiquitous chromatin opening element) technology to manufacture its biologic drugs. The license will enable Bayer to more efficiently manufacture recombinant proteins in mammalian cells by generating higher protein yields in its upstream bioprocessing operations. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Bayer HealthCare is one of the world’s leading, innovative companies in the healthcare and medical products industry and is based in Leverkusen, Germany. The company combines the global activities of the animal health, consumer care, diabetes care, and pharmaceuticals divisions. It plans to expand the use of the UCOE technology from small scale use in research and development to large scale manufacturing in order to help reduce the high cost of manufacturing recombinant protein-based drugs.
The process of manufacturing biologic drugs such as recombinant proteins often begins with growing mammalian cells in a bioreactor. These cells act as factories and produce the proteins that form the basis of biologic drugs. Millipore’s UCOE technology helps biopharmaceutical companies to effectively identify which cells will be the most effective in producing proteins during large scale manufacturing. By more effectively isolating these stable and highly productive cell lines, biopharmaceutical manufacturers can improve the yield and consistency of their manufacturing processes. The cost of manufacturing recombinant protein-based drugs makes quick identification of cell lines a critical factor in improving productivity.
“We have built successful relationship with Bayer over a number of years, and we are excited about their commitment to the UCOE technology,” says Andrew Bulpin, PhD, vice president of Millipore’s Upstream Bioprocessing Business Unit. “This license is another example of how we can help pharmaceutical and biotech companies efficiently manufacture biologic drugs for both commercial use and for use in clinical development.”
Millipore’s UCOE technology, which was licensed from the laboratory of Dr. Michael Antoniou at King’s College, London, can be used for the fast and simple generation of proteins at small scale for drug discovery and research, as well as for identifying stable and highly productive cell lines suitable for larger scale manufacturing. Other applications of the UCOE technology include gene therapy, transgenics, and generation of cell lines for drug screening. UCOE technology has been licensed by over 50 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in North America, Europe, and Japan, including Medarex, Novartis, and Maxygen.
About Millipore
Millipore is a life science leader providing cutting-edge technologies, tools, and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. As a strategic partner, we collaborate with customers to confront the world’s challenging human health issues. From research to development to production, our scientific expertise and innovative solutions help customers tackle their most complex problems and achieve their goals. Millipore Corporation is an S&P 500 company with more than 6,100 employees in 47 countries worldwide.
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