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Juvaris BioTherapeutics Inc., a private biotechnology company today announced it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Colorado State University to develop therapeutic vaccines using a newly discovered approach of "pattern recognition" receptor-ligands complexed to lipids. The licensed technology, jointly discovered by Juvaris and Dr. Steve Dow, associate professor of small animal medicine at Colorado State, will enable specific and robust immune responses using the ligands to activate an array of toll-like receptors (TLR) present on specialized cells of the immune system. This novel platform will stimulate unique mechanisms for immune induction resulting in superior therapeutic vaccines. Under terms of the agreement, Colorado State will receive licensing fees from Juvaris and be eligible for future royalties on product sales. Juvaris will be responsible for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of products. In humans, multiple pathways lead to immune system activation. This process involves the interaction between various ligands and a family of pattern recognition molecules (receptors), including TLR. The combination of these TLR activating ligands with liposomes creates a synergism that leads to substantially enhanced immune responses, particularly cytokine release and induction of potent cellular and humoral immunity. The discovery of the induction of increased immune responses by these TLR ligand-lipid complexes provides an alternative to DNA-based vaccines and creates unique mechanisms for immune system activation. The acquisition of these TLR ligand-lipid combinations will broaden the Company's intellectual property and technology platforms leading to the development of very effective, novel immunotherapeutic treatments for a number of chronic disease conditions including cancer and infectious diseases. "We will utilize these proprietary TLR ligand-lipid complexes to provide an enhanced immune induction capability. The inclusion of these new types of complexes in the Juvaris portfolio is an important step in broadening and advancing our current therapeutic vaccine programs. For the first time, we will be able to create therapeutic vaccines which are independent of DNA or CpG immune stimulants" said Martin D. Cleary, Co-founder, President and CEO of Juvaris. "I am delighted that we have a relationship with Colorado State University to develop these products for important cancer and infectious disease including antibioterrorist applications." About Juvaris Juvaris BioTherapeutics was created in 2002 to develop an immunotherapeutic product platform for the treatment of infectious diseases and cancer using lipid-DNA complexes. Cationic lipids are formulated with non-coding DNA (plasmid) to create JuvImmuneTM, a single lipid-DNA complex, which as an immunostimulation product will have utility in a number of non-antigen immunotherapeutic applications. The DNA in these complexes does not code for protein, but rather, through a combined synergistic effect with lipids, strongly stimulates immune responses. The JuvImmuneTM product has been shown to be at least 50-times more potent at triggering innate immune activation and interferon release than current immune stimulants. Juvaris was recently issued Patent No. 6,693,086 titled "Systemic Immune Activation Method Using Nucleic Acid-Lipid Complexes" providing broad intellectual property coverage for the JuvImmuneTM technology. When combined with disease-specific antigens, the technology creates JuvaVaxTM vaccines capable of activating substantial antibody- and cell-mediated immune responses, particularly induction of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Immunological responses elicited by the lipid-DNA complexes have been successfully demonstrated in both prophylactic and therapeutic settings in a variety of mammals including rodents, rabbits, cats, dogs and non-human primates. This system provides the opportunity to develop many disease-specific vaccine products, for which there are significant unmet medical needs. The Company encourages investment and partnering inquiries and can be reached at their website @ www.juvaris.com. Company Contact: |