Origen Therapeutics Receives $2 Million ATP Grant to Advance Technology for Discovery and Production of Human Polyclonal Antibodies from Transgenic Chickens.

Potential for Improved Antibody Therapies Against Cancer and Infectious Diseases Including Biodefense Threats

BURLINGAME, Calif. -- Origen Therapeutics today announced that the company has been awarded an Advanced Technology Program (ATP) grant totaling $2 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The three year grant will help fund development of a new method for discovering and producing human polyclonal antibodies to treat human disease by inserting complex genetic modifications into the chicken genome, enabling the chickens to deposit large amounts of the therapeutic antibodies into their eggs. Origen's first objective will be to develop polyclonal antibodies to treat antibiotic-resistant infections like Staphylococcus aureus in intensive care units, a growing issue for many hospitals.

"We are very pleased to receive this new grant, which is one of the last to be awarded under the recently ended ATP program," said Robert Kay, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Origen Therapeutics. "We thank NIST for recognizing the strategic importance of this effort, the only independent U.S. program focused on the development of human polyclonal antibodies, which offer the potential for achieving the next major advance in therapeutic antibodies for a wide range of diseases." Dr. Kay noted that this grant builds on previous support from NIST for Origen's avian embryonic stem cell technology and from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the production of human antibodies in chicken eggs for use as passive immunotherapy against infectious disease organisms including potential agents of bioterrorism.

Most antibody therapeutics today, such as the cancer treatments Avastin[R] and Herceptin[R] and the anti-infective Synagis[R], are monoclonal antibodies that attack a single antigen target on a cell or viral surface. In contrast, when the human immune system produces antibodies against disease, it makes polyclonal antibodies capable of recognizing and attacking different antigens on the same cell, enabling that disease target to be simultaneously attacked at many different points. Thus the ability to produce fully human polyclonal antibodies on a commercial scale for use as therapeutics could take antibody-based therapies to a new level of efficacy by more closely mimicking the full potential of the natural human immune response. Until now, the production of safe and effective polyclonal antibody treatments has been hampered by the lack of an appropriate system for the development and production of such antibodies.

Origen is focused on solving that problem through the development of transgenic chickens that deposit fully human polyclonal antibodies in their eggs. Due to the chicken's evolutionary distance from humans, the chicken's immune system can create antibodies against highly conserved human antigens in cases where mammalian systems, such as mice can fail to do so.

To date, Origen has published research in Nature demonstrating its ability to make modifications to the chicken genome and create transgenic chickens by introducing the desired new genetic elements into primordial germ cells, the precursor cells to sperm and eggs. The company has also published research in Nature Biotechnology demonstrating its ability to produce in chicken eggs human sequence monoclonal antibodies having greatly enhanced cancer-killing activity compared to antibodies produced via conventional methods. The NIST-funded efforts build on these accomplishments toward the insertion of complex genetic modifications into the chicken genome that enable the production of fully human polyclonal antibodies in chicken eggs. Origen intends to use these methods to discover and produce human antibodies that could be used therapeutically for passive immunization, the process of fighting disease with ready-made antibodies. Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies currently command a market of over $20 billion annually and the ability to discover and commercially produce human polyclonal antibodies through this new technology could introduce significant new opportunities in this marketplace.

About Origen Therapeutics

Origen Therapeutics, headquartered in Burlingame, CA, is a privately held biotechnology company developing product opportunities from their avian transgenic platform. The company's mission is to become a leading developer and producer of complex recombinant protein therapeutics, including human polyclonal antibodies. By taking advantage of the speed and economy with which transgenic chickens can be produced, Origen is establishing corporate alliances with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for the commercialization of its technology.