Ventria Bioscience Acquires Meristem Therapeutics’ Recombinant Lactoferrin Intellectual Property

ME Newswire / Business Wire

FORT COLLINS, Colo - Monday, December 3rd 2012

Ventria Bioscience announces the completion of an agreement under which Ventria Bioscience will wholly acquire portions of the intellectual property portfolio relating to Recombinant Lactoferrin developed by the French biotechnology company, Meristem Therapeutics. The agreement transfers to Ventria Bioscience exclusive royalty-free ownership rights for the specific patents in the United States, France, and Canada, including those related to recombinant human lactoferrin, in exchange for a one-time payment.

“The patents acquired today cover important components of our product pipeline,” said Scott Deeter, president and CEO of Ventria Bioscience. “The decision to purchase this intellectual property is significant because it removes the encumbrance of ongoing royalty and milestone payments, thereby enhancing the future economics of our products that use recombinant human lactoferrin.”

Recombinant human lactoferrin is the active ingredient in Ventria Bioscience’s lead therapeutic candidate VEN100, which is currently in clinical development for the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) in adults at high risk for this condition. Meristem Therapeutics’ patents resulted from significant investments in research and development of recombinant human lactoferrin in plants, but Meristem Therapeutics was never able to solve the problem of producing commercial-scale yields of the protein. Using its proprietary ExpressTec technology platform, Ventria Bioscience has been able to increase yield by 25 fold, making the protein an attractive candidate for commercialization.

Ventria Bioscience has an extensive intellectual property portfolio of more than 100 issued patents; exclusive license to issued patents; and patents in prosecution. In addition to the indication for AAD, the company is also exploring a variety of other clinical applications for recombinant human lactoferrin and other products in its portfolio.

About Ventria Bioscience

Ventria Bioscience develops, manufactures and markets biotherapeutics and products used in bioprocessing, regenerative medicine, cell culture media, and research and development. Ventria’s patented ExpressTec biomanufacturing technology enables the development of new and cost-effective biologic products. For more information, visit www.Ventria.com

Contacts

Ventria Bioscience

Erik Vogel

+1 970-818-7010

info@ventria.com