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Biocitech, France
June 12, 2007
Cellectis S.A., the
rational genome engineering company developing a new range of
products for the custom rewriting of DNA sequences in the
research, healthcare and industrial sectors, today announced
that a Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office ("EPO") has
just dismissed the appeal filed by Johns Hopkins University
against the decision of the Opposition division concerning their
European Patent licensed to
Sangamo Biosciences, Inc. ("Sangamo"); said Patent having
been revoked in May 2005 by the Opposition division. The Patent
No EP 0682699 entitled "Functional Domains In Flavobacterium
Okeanokoites (FOKI) Restriction Endonuclease" was granted on May
7, 2003, and formed the basis of Regional Phase patents in
France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Switzerland.
The granted patent's claims covered technologies used in
Sangamo's programs in targeted recombination and gene
correction.
In February 2004, Cellectis filed
a Notice of Opposition at the EPO, and in May 2005 the
Opposition Division revoked the European Patent EP 0682699 due
to lack of an inventive step. An appeal filed in January 2006 by
the Patentee (No. T0192/06) has been dismissed on March 6, 2007
and therefore the May 2005 decision has been confirmed. Details
concerning the revocation and the chronological account of the
procedure can be accessed via the
http://www.epoline.org/portal/public web site.
Practical information:
ISIN code FR0010425595
Ticker code ALCLS
Cellectis SA is a world-leading company in genome engineering
and genome surgery. It focuses on
developing new tools for rational reverse genetics and targeted
recombination. In particular, Cellectis designs meganucleases
(small proteins) that cut DNA at a highly precise, chosen
location in a genome and nowhere else. Genomic DNA breaks are
repaired naturally by the DNA maintenance system present in all
living organisms. Cellectis combines the ability of
meganucleases to cut DNA at a single, chosen location with
natural DNA repair, in order to offer new-generation products
for a wide spectrum of applications:
Human health:
Meganucleases that target a gene responsible for a genetic
disease are transferred into human cells,
together with a DNA repair matrix which includes the correct
sequence for the mutated gene. After the DNA
break occurs (which takes just a few minutes), the right
sequence is copied into the genome of the patients’
cells and the gene is thus repaired. This process - termed
"genome surgery" - has a defined time-frame of
action with permanent effects. All other transferred material is
degraded by natural mechanisms.
Agrobiotech:
The same process used in human healthcare can be applied to
plants, with the objective of replacing one
gene by another, modifying the gene or shutting it down. The
applications developed using Cellectis’
technology are essentially focused on improving agronomic
features of crops, producing new generations of
biofuels and developing better biofibers.
BioProduction:
BioProduction is the production of therapeutic proteins and
antibodies using bacteria, yeasts or mammalian
cells (mouse, hamster and human cells). This multibillion market
has an annual growth rate of over 15%.
Cellectis has developed meganucleases that cut the DNA of major
production cell lines used in
BioProduction, thus enabling the end users (contract
manufacturing organizations and biopharmaceutical
companies) to shorten their cell line engineering processes,
stabilize production yields and thus improve the
quality and features of the final product.
In the long term, Cellectis intends to become the global leader
in genome engineering. To this end, Cellectis is seeking to
establish its rational genome engineering approach (based on
meganucleases with modified specificity) as an industry
standard. In the short and medium term, Cellectis intends to
achieve profitability by commercializing its technology
(primarily in the agrobiotech and bioproduction fields) and, in
parallel, building its own therapeutic pipeline (thus providing
shareholders with medium- and long-term value).
To date, Cellectis has entered into more than 45 deals on its
genome engineering technologies with major players in the
pharma, biotech and agrobiotech industries. Cellectis is listed
on the Euronext Alternext market (ticker code: ALCLS). The
company currently has 46 staff, including 17 PhDs. For more
information on Cellectis, visit our web site:
www.cellectis.com.
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