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Cellectis
Ascenion
Munchen, Germany and Romainville, France, May the 26th, 2004

Press Release

Cellectis S.A., with the intermediation of Ascenion GmbH, has entered into a multi-tiered license agreement with four German Academic Research Centers, for its patents family covering certain uses of Homologous Recombination.

Munchen, Germany and Romainville, France - the 26th, 2004 - The Life Science IP Asset Management company Ascenion GmbH and Cellectis, the rational genome engineering company, announce today the signature of a multi-tiered license agreement. Through the intermediation of Ascenion, Cellectis has granted four German Academic Research Centers a non-exclusive license agreement under its patent family relating to a process for the specific replacement or insertion of a gene in an eukaryotic genome by homologous recombination.
Ascenion GmbH, a subsidiary company of the German Life Science Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Research, negotiated this deal for the four German Research Centers, which are :

  • the German Research Centre for Biotechnology (GBF : Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung, mbH),
  • the GSF - National Research Center for Environment and Health (GSF - Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, GmbH),
  • the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch (Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin Berlin Buch),
  • and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ : Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum).
All of them obtain through this agreement a sublicense under the Cellectis patents for their internal scientific research and for the commercialization of materials resulting from such research, such as mice models and transgenic services for industry and academia.
Financial terms and conditions of the agreement were not disclosed.

Christian Stein, CEO of Ascenion: "This deal is a milestone in securing unlimited access for research centres to a patent-protected important technology. It balances both the interest of our researchers and of Cellectis by allowing the researchers free use of the technology and the adequat participation of Cellectis in any commercial revenues from such research."

Isabelle Pelletier-Bressac, Vice President, Business Development of Cellectis said "We are extremely pleased by the signature of these agreements that creates an exceptional event in the European Academic World of biotechnologies." "The intermediate role played by Ascenion was crucial and sets a model for the future." She added "These four new agreements confirm the critical role played in this area by our family patents N° EP 419 621, covering certain use of Homologous Recombination. Ascenion provides us with a golden seal on this patent portfolio through its intermediation with four German leading Academic Centers developing animal models."




Cellectis SA (www.cellectis.com) was founded in 1999, as a spin-off from the Institut Pasteur. Cellectis is today the world leader in applying the technology of Meganuclease Recombination Systems to in vivo genome engineering and genome surgery. The company is focused on the research and development of custom-made Meganucleases for in vivo DNA interventions and also provides new tools for rational reverse genetics and targeted recombination. Cellectis develops Meganucleases that can induce unique site-directed double-strand breaks in a living cell, and can be used for biotechnological and therapeutical applications. The company is focusing on bringing "genome surgery" to clinic as a genuine new molecular medicine approach.
As of today, Cellectis has entered into more than 20 deals on Genome Engineering technologies.




Ascenion GmbH:
Ascenion (www.ascenion.de) is an Intellectual Property Asset Management company and offers all services related to acquisition, evaluation and commercial exploitation of scientific results and know how. Ascenion is a 100% subsidiary of the Life Science Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Research. The foundation was established by four life science research centres of the Hermann von Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren, the GBF - German Research Centre for Biotechnology in Braunschweig, the DKFZ - German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, the GSF - National Research Center for Environment and Health in Neuherberg and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin-Buch.




Contacts:  
Ascenion GmbH CELLECTIS SA
Dr. Jens Tampe Isabelle Pelletier-Bressac
Technology Manager VP Business Development
e-mail: tampe@ascenion.de e-mail: pelletier-bressac@cellectis.com
Tel.: +49-89-31 88 14 16 Tel.: +33 1 41 83 99 00

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