Eden Biodesign and Onyvax Limited Announce
Biomanufacturing Contract
Liverpool and London 3 April 2006: Eden Biodesign, the operator
of the UK National Biomanufacturing Centre (NBC), and Onyvax
Limited, the biotechnology company developing novel cancer therapies,
today announced a commercial agreement where Eden will supply
cGMP clinical manufacturing services to Onyvax for its Cell Vaccine
program in ovarian cancer.
The NBC Access Fund, a £2.7 million fund launched by the
Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) will provide supporting
finance for the programme which will take place at the NBC, in
Speke, Liverpool. It is the first programme to be awarded financial
support.
The access funding allows Onyvax to take advantage of the leading
development and manufacturing expertise of Eden Biodesign, which
was appointed by the NWDA to run the NBC, a £34.25m initiative
to provide state of the art biomanufacturing facilities and development
expertise to UK Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and
academics. The NBC opened for business in February 2006 and is
set to become Europe’s leading biopharmaceutical design
centre.
With a client base of over 70 biotech organisations, Eden Biodesign
specialises in overcoming technical, regulatory and logistical
hurdles, speeding up biopharmaceutical development timelines
and reducing cost.
Crawford Brown, CEO of Eden Biodesign, said: “We are delighted
to have the opportunity to work with Onyvax, a top tier UK Biotech
and are convinced we will be able to add substantial clinical
and commercial value to their products.”
Anthony Walker, of Onyvax, commented: “This agreement
marks an important step in the development of Onyvax’s
pipeline. This ovarian cancer vaccine is based on the same technology
as Onyvax-P, the company’s lead product for prostate cancer
that has generated encouraging results in Phase IIa clinical
trials. We hope to roll out the technology to a range of other
cancers over the next few years and hope to start clinical trials
in ovarian cancer in 2007/2008.”
Dr Linda Magee, NBC Project Director for NWDA, also commented: “We
are delighted to be delivering genuine practical assistance to
UK biotechs in meeting the stringent requirements for manufacture
of clinical products through the support of the NBC programme.
Onyvax has an exciting product technology that could in future
deliver huge benefits to cancer patients worldwide”.
For further details regarding Eden Biodesign
and the National Biomanufacturing Centre contact Charmaine Colvin:
Tel: 0870 240 5536 or 07951 821472
e-mail: charmaine@redheadpr.co.uk
For further details regarding Onyvax contact:
Onyvax
Dr Anthony Walker / Robert Johnson
+44 (0)208 682 9494
Financial Dynamics
Julia Philips
+44 (0)20 7831 3113
Notes to editors
The National Biomanufacturing Centre
The £34.25 million National Biomanufacturing Centre, which
opened in February 2006, is a Government-funded initiative led
by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and is additionally
funded through the European Regional Development Fund and the
Department of Trade and Industry. It aims to establish England’s
Northwest as one of the foremost biomanufacturing centres in
Europe.
The centre will provide the expertise and facilities to support
new and existing biotechnology companies, offering product development
services designed to fill in the skill and resource gaps that
exist within these organisations. It will also provide training
in biomanufacturing and analytical sciences, delivering the skilled
workforce required to expand the UK biopharmaceutical sector.
There is also an Access Fund of nearly £3 million which
is available to qualifying small to medium companies and academic
groups in the biotechnology sector to assist them in purchasing
development and clinical manufacturing services from the Centre.
Eden Biodesign
Eden Biodesign is a successful international biopharmaceutical
development and manufacturing services business that provides ‘state
of the art’ services to biotech clients across Europe,
the USA and Asia. Eden Biodesign has been awarded the contract
to operate the UK National Biomanufacturing Centre, recently
opened in Liverpool.
Eden Biodesign promises all clients a committed service plus
the knowledge and expertise to guide clients through process
development, manufacturing, regulatory and technology transfer
challenges.
The company uses the principles of ‘Good Science’ at
every step of biopharmaceutical development to design programmes
and processes that deliver clinically and commercially valuable
products, with an accomplished and attentive level of project
management that clients need.
The Northwest Regional Development Agency
The Northwest Regional Development Agency is responsible for
the sustainable economic development and regeneration of England’s
Northwest and has five key priorities: business; skills and education;
people and jobs; infrastructure and quality of life. For further
information about the NWDA please visit www.nwda.co.uk
Onyvax
Onyvax Ltd is a biotechnology company developing novel cancer
therapies that harness the selective power of the immune system
to seek and destroy tumour cells.
Founded in 1998, Onyvax is developing products that use the power
of the immune system to treat prostate, ovarian and other cancers.
Onyvax’s lead products are based on combinations of inactivated
cell lines that induce immune responses to a broad spectrum of
tumour targets. Onyvax-P, a Cell Vaccine for prostate cancer,
is due to enter Phase IIb clinical trials in 2006. For each cancer
type, Onyvax generates banks of proprietary cell lines representative
of different stages of the disease. The vaccines are manufactured
in bulk under standardised conditions.
Onyvax is committed to the commercialisation of new therapies
that significantly prolong survival while maintaining a high
quality of life for cancer patients. The Company is based in
London and has collaborations with leading institutions in Europe
and the US. Further information on Onyvax can be found at www.onyvax.com
