Medicago, Inc. Receives Fourth Milestone Payment of US$3.56 Million from the U.S. Department of Defense
RALEIGH, NC and QUEBEC CITY, Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Medicago USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Medicago Inc. (TSX: MDG), a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today announced it has received the fourth milestone payment of US$3.56 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ("DARPA"). This is part of the potential US$21 million DARPA milestone awards to be earned by Medicago to demonstrate the scalable manufacturing of its plant-expressed VLP vaccines in the U.S.A. under a Technology Investment Agreement. Medicago has now received US$19.8 million to date for this project, with two milestones remaining.
"Continuing to successfully advance this technology-transfer project is a further demonstration of our robust science and manufacturing platform, and our strong North American team," said Mike Wanner, Vice President U.S. Operations of Medicago USA. "This milestone focused on completing documentation related to a phased commissioning approach to the cGMP facility and equipment, as well as results from recent engineering runs in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina. Our U.S. vaccine facility began operations in September 2011, and we continue to expect to complete the fifth and sixth milestones related to this project in the first half of 2012."
Medicago previously signed a US$21 million Technology Investment
Agreement with DARPA to develop a 97,000-square-foot vaccine facility
in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina. This state of-the-art
facility is a large, cost-effective and scaled-up facility for
Medicago's VLP plant-based vaccine technology, ultimately for the
delivery of current good manufacturing practice (cGMP)-grade vaccine.
Medicago intends to demonstrate its capacity to produce 10 million
doses/month of influenza vaccines with the potential for further
expansion in the future. This DARPA project is part of the Blue Angel
influenza vaccine rapid response demonstration project which seeks to
identify new ways to produce large amounts of high quality vaccine
grade protein in less than 3 months in response to emerging and novel
biologic threats.
About Medicago
Medicago is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel
vaccines and therapeutic proteins to address a broad range of
infectious diseases worldwide. The Company is committed to providing
highly effective and competitive vaccines and therapeutic proteins
based on its proprietary VLP and manufacturing technologies. Medicago
is a worldwide leader in the development of VLP vaccines using a
transient expression system which produces recombinant vaccine antigens
in plants. This technology has potential to offer more potent vaccines
with speed and cost advantages over competitive technologies, enabling
the development of a vaccine for testing in approximately one month
after the identification and reception of genetic sequences from a
pandemic strain. This production time frame has the potential to allow
vaccination of the population before the first wave of a pandemic, and
supply large volumes of vaccine antigens to the world market. Medicago
also intends to expand development into other areas such as biosimilars
and biodefense products where the benefits of our technologies can make
a significant difference. Additional information about Medicago is
available at www.medicago.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are
based upon current expectations, which involve risks and uncertainties
associated with Medicago's business and the environment in which the
business operates. Any statements contained herein that are not
statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking,
including those identified by the expressions "anticipate", "believe",
"plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", and similar expressions to the
extent they relate to Medicago or its management. The forward-looking
statements are not historical facts, but reflect Medicago's current
expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking
statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current
expectations, including the matters discussed under "Risks Factors and
Uncertainties" in Medicago's Annual Information Form filed on March 31,
2011 with the regulatory authorities. Medicago assumes no obligation to
update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why
actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking
statements.
SOURCE Medicago Inc.