An exclusive research and license agreement was announced today (June 14) by the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI), Ithaca, N.Y., and Axis Genetics, PLC, Cambridge, England. It links two organizations with complementary goals and expertise in creating a new generation of oral vaccines.

BTI, located on the campus of Cornell University, is a not-for-profit organization that has pioneered the creation of edible vaccines in specially engineered plants. While pursuing their mission of providing highly effective, low-cost immunization strategies for use by developing countries, BTI scientists have recognized that their technology is also of immediate use for numerous preventive medical applications.

"This licensing arrangement provides our institute with needed research funding to enable testing of edible vaccines in clinical trials in the U.S. and England," said Charles Arntzen, president of BTI. "These evaluations will speed acceptance of plant-based vaccines around the world."

Axis, a closely held concern, is a world leader in pharmaceutical protein production in plants using its proprietary Epicoat¨ technology. It was the first company to report a successful vaccination of animals using a plant-based vaccine to prevent an animal disease.

"Our experience in product development can be applied to the edible vaccines which are now in the prototype stage at the Boyce Thompson Institute," said Iain Cubitt, chief executive officer of Axis. "The recent successful human clinical trial reported by BTI scientists and collaborators, which is the first ever using biotechnology-derived crops, is predictive of early product introduction for novel oral vaccines against important diseases such as hepatitis and diarrhea."

Under the agreement, Axis will fund a research project on edible vaccines for three years at BTI. It will pay the institute a license fee of $3 million, plus newly issued shares in Axis equivalent to 15 percent of the concern's outstanding stock, in return for exclusive use of technology related to human vaccines. The collaboration will pool expertise and patented technology for creation of vaccines against a variety of infectious diseases.

"Plants are likely to be the only cost-effective way to produce the large quantities of new vaccines needed for oral immunization," said Arntzen. "We have established that the system can be used for vaccine production to prevent diseases caused by either viruses or bacteria."

New oral immunization strategies are needed to increase the safety and effectiveness of disease prevention around the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The inappropriate and sometimes dangerous use of needles for injectable vaccines has been highlighted in recent WHO reports.

"The international call for new oral vaccines, and the unique capability of our plant-based systems to produce these vaccines in an edible form creates exciting opportunities which are not dependent upon injections," added Cubitt. "This is, of course, a significant business opportunity also."

"I am very excited about the Axis collaboration," said Arntzen. "It will speed the development of plant-based vaccine technology and help us accomplish our mission of providing new knowledge and technology to benefit the developing world."

For further information about Axis, please contact Cubitt at (44) 1223-837611 or information about BTI, contact Joyce Frank, vice president for operations, at (607) 254-1220.