Vivalis Achieves Milestone With GlaxoSmithKline In The Development Of Human Flu Vaccines Based On Eb66

NANTES, FRANCE--(Marketwire - April 07, 2010) -

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Nantes (France) - April 7th, 2010 - VIVALIS (NYSE Euronext: VLS), a biopharmaceutical company, announced today the achievement of a milestone in its collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals (LSE: GSK) to develop new influenza vaccines based on VIVALIS' innovative EB66® cell line technology.

This milestone recognizes the completion of the characterization program of the EB66® cell line according to the current regulatory requirements.

The worldwide collaboration and license agreement is devoted to developing a new way of producing both seasonal and pandemic human influenza vaccines. The EB66® stem cell line technology developed by VIVALIS has the potential to provide greater control and efficiency as compared with the traditional method which uses embryonic chicken eggs.

"We are very pleased with the quality of our collaboration with GSK Biologicals in the area of cell-based influenza vaccine development and with the continued progress of this project. The achievement of this important milestone is the recognition by our partner of the completion of the work done by both our teams to characterize the EB66® cell line. This work did represent a major investment for VIVALIS over the last three years and is a significant step for the development of the EB66® cell line technology not only in the Influenza vaccine field but for all applications", said Franck Grimaud, CEO, and Majid Mehtali, CSO, co- managers of VIVALIS.

Terms of the milestone were not disclosed.

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About the EB66® cell line

The EB66® cell line, derived from duck embryonic stem cells, presents unique industrial and regulatory characteristics such as long-term genetic stability, immortality and cell growth up to high cell densities in suspension in a serum-free medium ( > 40 millions cells/mL).

The BMF (Biologics Master File) for the registration of the EB66® cell line with the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) was filed on June 27, 2008.

The EB66® cells replicate a wide range of human and animal viruses and are currently used or being evaluated for the production of viral vaccines by the major players in vaccines.

The EB66® cells are easily genetically engineered to efficiently express recombinant proteins of interest ( > 1 g/l). Monoclonal antibodies produced in EB66® cells have human-like glycosylation profile, with the remarkable additional feature of having reduced fucose content. This latter characteristic provides a better cytotoxic activity to antibodies, particularly useful in the treatment of cancer cells.

About VIVALIS (www.vivalis.com)

VIVALIS (NYSE- Euronext: VLS) is a biopharmaceutical company that provides innovative cell-based solutions to the pharmaceutical industry for the manufacture of vaccines and proteins, and develops drugs for the prevention and treatment of viral diseases. VIVALIS' expertise and intellectual property are exploited in three main areas:

1. VIVALIS offers research and commercial licenses for its EB66® cell line, derived from duck stem cells, to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for the production of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. VIVALIS receives upfront fees, milestone payments and royalties on its licensees' net sales.

2. Through the Humalex® platform, VIVALIS proposes customers solutions for the discovery, development and production of human antibodies. VIVALIS receives upfront fees, milestone payments and royalties on its licensees' net sales.

3. The construction of a portfolio of proprietary products in the area of vaccines and anti-viral molecules (hepatitis C).

Based in Nantes (France), VIVALIS was founded in 1999 by the Grimaud group (1,500 employees), the second largest group worldwide in animal genetic selection. VIVALIS has established more than 30 partnerships and licenses with world leaders in this sector, including Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, CSL, Kaketsuken, Merial, Intervet, SAFC Biosciences. VIVALIS is a member of the French ATLANPOLE BIOTHERAPIES bio- cluster.

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|Bloomberg: VLS FP        | |
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