BIOPROTEIN BROADENS ITS MANUFACTURING SERVICES
PORTFOLIO WITH RECOMBINANT VACCINE PRODUCTION

Rotavirus Pseudoviral Particles platform to be used as Antigen Carrier for Vaccines

Paris, France … BioProtein Technologies, the biotechnology company specialising in the production of therapeutic proteins in the milk of transgenic rabbits, announced today that it has extended its biomanufacturing services to include recombinant vaccine production. Based on a novel technology platform developed in partnership with INRA, the French Agronomy Research Institute, using optimised Rotavirus Virus-Like Particles (Rotavirus-VLPs), BioProtein Technologies can produce recombinant vaccines in the milk of transgenic rabbits. This new technology will benefit both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies aiming to develop safe and effective vaccination approaches. It can be applied to a wide range of diseases such as life-threatening viral infections (including HIV) and cancers.

The Rotavirus Virus-Like Particles will be used as antigen carriers to develop safe multivalent vaccines that will be produced in the milk of transgenic rabbits. This technology, for which INRA has filed a patent application (PCT/FR01/00676), allows the insertion of a wide range of antigenic molecules into the particles, from small peptides to large polypeptides carrying multiple epitopes.

BioProtein Technologies has achieved production of Rotavirus-VLPs in the milk of transgenic rabbits, obtaining both expression and quality levels fully compatible with the industrial production of recombinant Rotavirus-VLPs based vaccines.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Marc Le Bozec, CEO of BioProtein Technologies said: “This is an important strategic achievement for BioProtein Technologies as it broadens our commercial offering in the area of recombinant biopharmaceutical production in the milk of transgenic rabbits. I am confident that the Rotavirus-VLPs platform will address the pharmaceutical and biotech industry’s needs for safe and effective vaccines development.”

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Notes to the editors

About Rotavirus Virus-Like Particles

Rotavirus-VLPs are high molecular weight protein complexes consisting of hundreds of Rotavirus proteins of two types: VP2 and VP6. These proteins are derived from the Rotavirus capsid, and assemble naturally to form virus-like particles, mimicking the rotavirus structure, with the same ability to trigger the immune system but without the risk of infection. Rotavirus-VLPs represent a very powerful vaccine carrier due to their high molecular weight and the repetition of the antigen motif in each particle.

Recombinant chimeric proteins can be produced with any antigen of interest (whether small or large peptide or even large functional molecules) inserted within VP2 and VP6 protein without disrupting the Rotavirus-VLP structure, in order to produce safe and effective vaccine solutions.

About BioProtein Technologies
www.bioprotein.com

BioProtein Technologies is the world leader in the production of recombinant proteins in the milk of transgenic rabbits. The Company’s unique contract manufacturing capabilities have been designed to meet the increasing demands of the pharmaceutical and the biotechnology industries for therapeutic protein production. Rabbits offer great advantages in terms of scale-up and time-to-market and can produce up to 10-15 liters of milk per year. From the annual production of 400 rabbits, up to 5-10 kg of protein can be isolated and purified to a very high quality.

BioProtein Technologies has strong expertise through the entire manufacturing process from genes or cDNA expression to animal production. The Company is using high quality science, for example from INRA, as the foundation for building BioProtein Technologies into a world-leading producer of therapeutic proteins. The Company has produced complex and difficult-to-express proteins, including monoclonal antibodies, plasma proteins, hormones and vaccinating antigens, all of which demonstrates BioProtein Technologies’ ability to fulfill the most rigorous specifications in protein production.

As a corporation, BioProtein Technologies recognizes that it has a specific responsibility towards the animals that it generates and breeds for the production of therapeutic proteins. The Company conducts its animal research and development according to the highest ethical standards.

The Company was founded in 1998 and successfully completed its first €8 million financial round in May 2001.