Takara Bio grants a non-exclusive license of its proprietary antibiotic aureobasidin A-related patents to AureoGen Biosciences for development of novel drugs

Jan 29, 2007 --- Takara Bio Inc. (Shiga, Japan) announced that it has entered into a license agreement with AureoGen Biosciences (Kalamazoo, Michigan), as of January 29, 2007, granting AureoGen a non-exclusive worldwide license to practice the patents covering Takara Bio's proprietary antibiotic aureobasidin A.

Aureobasidin A (AbA), which is produced by a kind of yeast - Aureobasidium pullulans strain No.R106 (R106 strain), is an antifungal compound Takara Bio originally discovered in 1989. Takara Bio holds a series of patents relevant to AbA, which cover the AbA-producer strain (R106), the AbA substance, its derivatives, and methods for its production.

AureoGen is a start-up company established with the primary objective of developing novel antibiotics by modifying and arranging synthetic genes encoding cyclic peptide-based antibiotics such as AbA.
Under the license agreement, AureoGen will genetically alter the genome in the R106 strain to produce a broad-spectrum antifungal compounds. If the compounds are successfully made, AureoGen will seek a buyer to take the most promising compound into clinical development. Takara Bio receives from AureoGen a certain upfront payment upon execution of the agreement, and expects to receive milestone payments based on future progress of the clinical development, as well as running royalties derived from the sales of antibiotics commercialized.

AureoGen was founded in 2003 by Elhammer and Jerry Slightom, both former Pharmacia scientists, who took advantage of the community and state new business development incentives offered when Pharmacia was acquired by Pfizer. Since then, AureoGen's potential for the successful genetic engineering of antibiotics has been continuously recognized by the scientific community. In its first 18 months of business, AureoGen received more than $1.6 million in funding, including a $1.5 million Advanced Technology Program grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I grant from the National Institute of Health. To date, the company has received more than $6 million to fund its research, with recent additions being a SBIR Phase II grant from the NIH and a $1.9 million loan award from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. For more information, visit www.aureogen.com.

[ About Takara Bio Inc. ]

Takara Bio Inc. is an innovative biotechnology company based in Shiga, Japan. As a world leader in biotechnology research and development, Takara Bio was the first company to market PCR technology in Japan and is also the developer of the RetroNectin^® reagent, which is a world-standard in gene therapy protocols. In addition to providing research reagents and equipment to the life science research market, Takara Bio has active research and product development activities in the fields of gene and cell-based therapy, and agricultural biotechnology; and is committed preventing disease and improving the quality of life for all people through the use of biotechnology. Through strategic alliances with other industry leaders, the Company aims to extend its reach around the world. More information is available at http://www.takara-bio.com.

This article is translated from press release in Japanese for your convenience.

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