Life Therapeutics Announces Contract to Supply DVC LLC with Vaccinia HyperImmune Plasma for the First FDA-Approved Intravenous Vaccinia Immune Globulin -Human- -VIGIV-.ATLANTA -- U.S. Dept. of Defense to Stockpile Product for Protection Against Serious Complications to Smallpox Vaccine Life Therapeutics (ASX ASX See: Australian Stock Exchange :LFE) today announced a contract with DVC LLC, a Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :CSC) company, to provide the vaccinia hyperimmune hyperimmune /hy·per·im·mune/ (hi?per-i-mun´) possessing very large quantities of specific antibodies in the serum. hyperimmune possessing very large quantities of specific antibodies in the serum. plasma used to make Vaccinia Immune Globulin (Human) (VIGIV). VIGIV is used to treat rare serious reactions that sometimes occur with smallpox vaccination. The hyperimmune plasma will be supplied by Life Sera, an Atlanta-based division of Life Therapeutics. DVC, a biopharmaceutical company and developer of biodefense products, is the first company to be granted an FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. license to produce VIGIV. In 2002 and 2003, for a different sponsor, Life Sera conducted one of the clinical trials on the smallpox vaccine and collected plasma as part of the U.S. government's program to stockpile vaccinia hyperimmune plasma. DVC is contracted by the Department of Defense Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program (JVAP) to produce VIGIV. JVAP contracts with DVC to work on a broad range of biodefense vaccines. Life Sera, a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Life Therapeutics, will collect the hyperimmune plasma at four of its eight U.S. donor centers using the company's unique donor management system. VIGIV is produced by hyperimmunizing volunteers with the smallpox vaccine and then collecting their blood plasma. The hyperimmune plasma is made into a drug product which is used to treat serious complications to the smallpox vaccines. This contract is worth up to US$1.58M to Life Therapeutics and represents income above and beyond the AUD AUD In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Australian Dollar. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. $38 million published forecast. "This is an important contract for us, as it establishes our expertise in the provision of biodefense plasma," said Hari Nair CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. and Managing Director. "We regard this as a great opportunity to work with DVC to participate in efforts that help protect Americans from a terrorist attack involving smallpox," he said. "This agreement helps us remain very much on track to achieve the financial and strategic objectives we have targeted for the 2005 financial year," said John Manusu, CFO See Chief Financial Officer. for Life Therapeutics. "It is also a major milestone from a business standpoint. Through our network of collection centers, we have the capacity to expand into many more therapeutic areas in the future and we intend to vigorously pursue that goal." About Life Therapeutics Recently renamed Life Therapeutics (formerly Gradipore Ltd.), the company is now a global manufacturer of biologically-based niche therapeutics with 180 employees in four operating divisions, including Life Sera, Life Gels and Life Diagnostics in Atlanta as well as Life Bioprocess in Australia. There are manufacturing operations in both countries and eight plasma donor centers in six American states. Life Sera collects specialty plasma, including Anti-D and Hepatitis B from a donor base of more than 5,000 in eight U.S. collection centers. The plasma is then sold to blood fractionators who process it into hyperimmune therapeutic products. Life Gels offers pre-cast gels for use in biological research and diagnostic testing, including a variety of electrophoresis systems. It also offers ultra-sensitive and rapid stains, molecular weight markers, and specially formulated buffers. Life Diagnostics provides highly specific diagnostic tests for blood-clotting disorders and source plasma products for blood-borne diseases. Technologies include specialized blood coagulation tests to predict the risk of thrombosis and bleeding disorders. It also collects high-titer source plasma and serum used to make diagnostic kits. Life Bioprocess directly markets the Gradiflow(TM) technology, a patented process that simultaneously purifies proteins and removes all viral pathogens, and infectious prion proteins. Life Therapeutics has successfully established its U.S. American Depositary Receipt American Depositary Receipt (ADR) Certificates issued by a US depository bank, representing foreign shares held by the bank, usually by a branch or correspondent in the country of issue. (ADR ADR - Astra Digital Radio ) Level I program. This will enable trading in Life Therapeutics shares by US based investors and is an important initial step toward the company's ultimate objective -- a full listing of Life Therapeutics securities on NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on . For more information, visit our website at www.life-therapeutics.com. About DVC DVC LLC, a CSC company, is a biodefense contractor dedicated to the development and licensure of safe and efficacious biological products. Biodefense biologics in development include vaccines for anthrax, plague, tularemia tularemia (t  lərē`mēə) or rabbit fever, acute, infectious disease caused by Francisella tularensis (Pasteurella tularensis). , botulinum neurotoxin and Venezuelan equine encephalitis Venezuelan equine encephalitis An alphavirus infection first identified in a sick horse in Venezuela in 1938, which occurs as an epizootic infection in central and northern South America; most exposed humans develop flu-like Sx; ±4%, especially adolescents, . Therapeutics include botulinum polyclonal antibodies and vaccinia immune globulin (VIGIV), the company's first FDA-licensed product. DVC is the prime systems contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Vaccine Acquisition (JVAP) program. About CSC Founded in 1959, Computer Sciences Corporation is a leading global information technology (IT) services company. CSC's mission is to provide customers in industry and government with solutions crafted to meet their specific challenges and enable them to profit from the advanced use of technology. With approximately 79,000 employees supporting continuing operations, CSC provides innovative solutions for customers around the world by applying leading technologies and CSC's own advanced capabilities. These include systems design and integration; IT and business process outsourcing Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the contracting of a specific business task, such as payroll, to a third-party service provider. Usually, BPO is implemented as a cost-saving measure for tasks that a company requires but does not depend upon to maintain its position in ; applications software development; Web and application hosting; and management consulting. Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., CSC reported revenue of $13.9 billion from continuing operations for the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2004. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.csc.com. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion