Takara Bio grants an exclusive license of cancer immunotherapy using RetroNectin^® expansion-culture system to Green Cross Corp, Korea

Sep 10, 2007 --- Takara Bio Inc. (President and CEO: Ikunoshin Kato, Ph.D.) has entered into a license agreement with Green Cross Corp, Korea (Vice chairman, Il- Sup Huh) as of September 10, 2007, granting Green Cross an exclusive license for clinical development of cancer immunotherapy using RetroNectin^® expansion-culture system in Korea.

This is the first time for Takara Bio to license out RetroNectin^® expansion-culture system to a commercial entity.

The procedure of conventional adoptive T cell transfer therapy, which is one of cancer immunotherapy, is as follows. First, draw a blood sample from a cancer patient, activate and expand T cell in the blood with anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, and culture it in medium supplemented with cytokine called interleukin-2 for about 2 weeks. Then, they are transferred back into the patient.

We have developed T cell expansion-culture system which stimulates T cells using 3 kinds of proteins: RetroNectin^®(recombinant human fibronectin fragment) , Interleukin-2, and anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody.

This method is able to efficiently expand T cells in culture, and also a high number of undifferentiated naïve T cells are contained in those expanded cells.

Naïve T cells have the potential to proliferate extensively in vivo, so we believe that RetroNectin^® expansion-culture system will be useful for adoptive T cell transfer therapy.

Since Green Cross has obtained an exclusive License from Takara Bio, they are to start both pre-clinical studies and clinical trials in Korea.

[ 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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