NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - June 07, 2016) - iBio, Inc. (NYSE MKT: IBIO) - The Texas A & M University System (including Texas A & M University AgriLife Research, and the Texas A & M Institute of Infectious Animal Diseases (IIAD)) (“TAMUS”), has executed a joint development agreement with iBio, Inc., and its subsidiary, iBio CMO LLC in Bryan/College Station, Texas (“iBio”) for the establishment of a collaborative program in plant-produced pharmaceuticals.
The collaboration will leverage the research and development resources of TAMUS with the commercial therapeutics and vaccine development and manufacturing capabilities of iBio. The goal of the collaboration is to serve the citizens of Texas, the US and the world through the rapid development and testing of cost-effective, commercial, therapeutic and vaccine solutions against diseases that threaten humans and animals.
The iBio CMO LLC leadership team has worked with TAMUS over the last 6 years to establish a renowned bio-manufacturing ecosystem at Texas A&M that included construction of the iBio facility; winning the Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) contract; and build out of a workforce development program with The National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing (NCTM) at Texas A&M. iBio and TAMUS’s Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases (IIAD) are already collaborating on therapeutic products for use in treating infectious animal diseases.
Primary leadership for the collaboration includes Dr. Craig Nessler (Texas A&M AgriLife Research), Dr. Gerry Parker (Associate Vice President, Texas A & M Health Science Center, Dr. Jon Mogford (Texas A&M University System, Vice Chancellor for Research), Mr. Robert Erwin (President, iBio Inc.) and Dr. Barry Holtz (President, iBio CMO LLC).
About The Texas A&M University System
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation with a statewide network of 11 universities, seven state agencies, a comprehensive health science center and a budget of $4.2 billion. The Texas A&M System educates more than 140,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. Externally funded research expenditures exceed $946 million and help drive the state’s economy.
About iBio, Inc.
iBio, Inc. offers proprietary products and product licenses to others based on its proprietary technologies, providing collaborators full support for turn-key implementation of its technology for protein therapeutics and vaccines from early development through commercial manufacturing.
iBio CMO LLC is a 70 percent subsidiary of iBio jointly owned with affiliates of Eastern Capital Limited for development and large-scale manufacture of plant-made pharmaceuticals. The iBio CMO multiproduct facility includes laboratory and pilot-scale operations as well as large-scale automated hydroponic systems capable of growing over 4 million plants as “in process inventory” and delivery of over 300 kilograms of finished therapeutic protein per year. This translates into more than a half million doses per year of a typical therapeutic antibody and approximately 50 million vaccine doses every three weeks. Facility capacity can be doubled by adding additional plant growth equipment in a space already reserved for that purpose. iBio CMO’s lease includes the right to develop another facility on the balance of the leased property that would have the effect of quadrupling capacity from the current level. iBio CMO offers a range of pharmaceutical product and process development, analytical, and manufacturing services.
In Brazil, iBio has formed a subsidiary company, iBio do Brasil Biofarmaceutical Ltda., and has been collaborating with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) to develop a recombinant yellow fever vaccine based on iBio technology.
iBio is developing proprietary products for the treatment of a range of fibrotic diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, systemic sclerosis, and scleroderma. IBIO-CFB03, produced using the Company’s proprietary gene expression technology, is the first product candidate from this program being advanced for IND development. Further information is available at: www.ibioinc.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
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