GTC Biotherapeutics obtains license to nuclear transfer patents
GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc. announced that it has been granted a non-exclusive worldwide license from Start Licensing, Inc., a joint venture between Geron Corporation and Exeter Life Sciences, Inc., for the patents and patent applications developed by the Roslin Institute to apply nuclear transfer to the production of therapeutic proteins in the milk of transgenic animals. Nuclear transfer may be utilized, as an alternative to micro-injection, to provide schedule predictability in developing the first animal that incorporates into its genome the transgene for a therapeutic protein to be expressed in milk.
Nuclear transfer may also be used to speed the development of large scale transgenic production capacity. Financial terms include an upfront payment of $200,000 to Start and a total of 278,370 shares of GTCB common stock, based on the 10-day average closing price ending April 5, divided equally between Start and Exeter. There will also be a royalty payable to Start for those products developed with the patented nuclear transfer technology. The license agreement remains in place through the last patent to expire, which is expected in 2016 for the currently issued patents.
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