VGX Pharmaceuticals Announces DNA Therapeutics License Agreement with Baylor College of Medicine
Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and Houston, Texas - May 14, 2007 - VGX Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VGX) announced today that it has signed a license agreement with Baylor College of Medicine covering a broad range of Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone (“GHRH”) and related intellectual property for application in humans. Under the terms of the agreement VGX will have exclusive worldwide rights to develop the technology for a number of indications including cachexia in cancer and HIV patients as well as age-related disorders. This new agreement broadens the existing relationship between the two organizations. VGX recently acquired ADViSYS, Inc., a former BCM Technologies start-up company, focused on veterinary applications of the GHRH technology. The products for porcine, canine, equine and bovine applications are in various stages of development with the porcine-GHRH product presently undergoing pre-market regulatory review in Australia.
The underlying technology was developed in the laboratories of Dr. Robert Schwartz, Dr. Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, and other collaborators during their time at Baylor. Drs. Schwartz and Draghia-Akli were involved in the founding of ADViSYS and Draghia-Akli is currently VGX’s Vice President of Research – Immune Therapeutics.
Dr. J. Joseph Kim, President and CEO of VGX Pharmaceuticals, commented, "The licensed technology will augment our growing early-stage pipeline of DNA based therapeutics and vaccines being developed at the VGX-Immune Therapeutics Division. We already have on-going programs in both HIV and cancer, and the development of GHRH as a potential treatment to combat wasting (cachexia) associated with these diseases may represent an important step in the management of these diseases. Our early efficacy data on the use of plasmid-mediated GHRH supplementation for alleviating cancer-cachexia in dogs has proved to be very promising, and this licensing agreement allows us access to further develop the technology for human applications."
Commenting on the license agreement, Dr. Michael Dilling, Sr. Licensing Associate with the Baylor Licensing Group said," We are pleased to expand our relationship with VGX. With their proprietary DNA delivery technology, cGMP plasmid manufacturing capabilities and development experience, we believe that VGX will serve as an ideal commercialization partner for Baylor technology."
About VGX Pharmaceuticals
VGX Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company with small molecules and biologics product candidates for the treatment of infectious diseases, cancer and inflammatory diseases. The Company's clinical development programs include PICTOVIRTM for HIV infection and VGX-410C for chronic HCV infection, both of which are currently in Phase II clinical trials. In addition, Phase I clinical trials will be initiated in 2007 for VGX-150 for the treatment of melanoma and VGX-1027 for inflammatory diseases. The product candidates and technology programs are protected by the Company’s extensive global intellectual property portfolio. More information about VGX can be found at www.vgxp.com.
Company Contact:
Kevin W. Rassas
Senior Vice-President
Tel. 267.440.4208
Fax 267.440.4242
E-mail: Rassas@vgxp.com
www.vgxp.com
About Baylor College of Medicine:
Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, the only private medical school in the Greater Southwest, was founded in 1900 and is today an internationally respected medical and research institution known for excellence in education, research and patient care. Today, the College consistently ranks among the country’s top 125 medical schools. For 2006, U.S. News & World Report has again ranked the College No. 13 on its list of top medical schools. BCM also is listed 11th among all U.S. medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, and No. 1 for research expenditures in biological science by the National Science Foundation. Located in the Texas Medical Center, a 700-acre complex housing 42 member institutions, BCM has affiliations with seven teaching hospitals, each with a national and international reputation for medical excellence. The College has total research support exceeding $401.5 million, with $340 million from federal sources, and more than 90 research and patient-care centers and units. Currently, BCM trains more than 3,000 medical, graduate, nurse anesthesia, and physician assistant students, as well as residents and post-doctoral fellows. For more information, please visit: www.bcm.edu.