Boston, June 12, 2012 -- Xenetic Biosciences plc (“Xenetic”/“XEN”/the “Company”), Governor Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced today that the UK-based, publicly-listed company plans to relocate its drug development operations to Massachusetts. Xenetic is a specialty drug development company with an extensive proprietary product pipeline with a primary focus on rare and orphan diseases. The Company is headquartered in London and, historically, has conducted all of its in-house optimisation and pre-clinical development work at its own laboratories. The relocation decision follows the March 2011 visit to the UK by Governor Patrick and a delegation of state leaders from industry, academia and government to promote mutually beneficial collaborations. The first discussion with Xenetic took place during that trade mission. The company intends to hire up to 6 employees in Massachusetts before the end of the year and has plans to build the new Drug Development Center to around 20 by the end of 2013.
“Thanks to our investments in education, innovation and infrastructure, Massachusetts is a great place for international life sciences companies to do business,” said Governor Patrick. “Stemming from last year’s trade mission to the UK, we have worked closely with Xenetic to encourage them to come here and we look forward to seeing them create jobs and opportunities in the Commonwealth.”
In November 2011 Xenetic completed an important financing round and is now well-positioned to initiate a number of FDA/EMA clinical programs, a strategy that demands the bringing on board of a greatly expanded set of skills. Over the last 12 months the Company has evaluated a number of potential locations, and, while all sites offered some level of support, Management has concluded that Massachusetts can deliver the most comprehensive set of programs needed to facilitate the rapid establishment of its Drug Development Center of Excellence. The Company is currently working closely with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to facilitate these plans, targeting the opening of their new facility in the next few months - likely in the Waltham/Lexington area.
M. Scott Maguire, a native of Boston and CEO of Xenetic, said: “Committing our company’s entire drug development operations to Massachusetts is certainly a bold step but is surely one which presents an excellent opportunity to prove ourselves as a leading technology provider in the quest to develop better drug therapies which address areas of unmet need and confer genuine advantage to both patients and providers. We have worked closely with the Patrick Administration as we made this decision, and I have every confidence that the team in Massachusetts will be working with us every step of the way to maximize the likelihood of this being another great success for the Massachusetts supercluster!”
With a focus on Orphan and Rare Disease drug development (for example, Xenetic’s OncoHist® molecule has received designation as such from both the FDA and EMA) the Company believes that there is no region anywhere in the world that can currently compete with Massachusetts in the breadth of skills, experience and resources available to a company at this stage of its growth.
Xenetic comes to Massachusetts with extensive technology offerings, each of which is designed to improve the efficacy, safety, stability, biological half-life and immunologic characteristics of the Company’s product portfolio which is being built, currently, on three core technologies:
PolyXen® for extending the efficacy and half life of biologic drugs
OncoHist® for novel mode of action drugs for oncology therapies
ImuXen® for creating new vaccines and improving existing vaccines
The Company has multiple drug and vaccine programs with three products currently in human clinical development. A further key commercial stratagem is that, by means of reformulating existing APIs with their all-natural technologies, Xenetic is well-positioned to develop a broad range of bio-superior product candidates using both the PolyXen and ImuXen enabling platforms. The Company has broadened its portfolio of all-natural technologies through the acquisition in January 2012 of the OncoHist molecule. Xenetic will continue to seek new opportunities to extend its clinical reach into areas of high unmet need, whether through platform technologies or otherwise.
The first step in establishing the Company’s new Drug Development Centre of Excellence in Boston, was the Company’s announcement in May 2012 of the appointment of Dr. Henry Hoppe IV as VP of Drug Development. Dr Hoppe is a leading biotechnology executive with over 20 years experience in drug development. Dr Hoppe’s principal expertise lies in the processes surrounding regulatory submissions, IND filings and clinical trials, especially in the orphan and rare disease arena, exemplified in his 17 years at Genzyme Corporation where he was instrumental in the development and launch of many of their leading products. Dr. Hoppe has Inventor status on four US-granted patents addressing oncology diseases, anaemia and cystic fibrosis, each of which holds potential significance in Xenetic’s development plan.
Complementing Xenetic’s presence in Boston, and being a strong advocate for the clinical development of OncoHist® in the USA in its primary indication of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, is Dr. Surender Kharbanda, who, since 1986, has held a number of research and academic positions at the Harvard Medical School and numerous scientific advisory board and executive level positions at Boston-based biotech companies focused on cancer drug development. With a track record of successful drug development, Dr. Kharbanda, who has worked at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and oncology-focused biotechnology companies on the molecular biology of human cancer and the development of anti-cancer agents for nearly 25 years, will be a key adviser to the Company as it establishes foundation contacts in the oncology field with both Key Opinion Leaders and with charitable foundations in the USA. Dr Kharbanda will be a member of the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Xenetic will shortly be announcing the appointment of several new appointees to their SAB which will be a US-centric body with members drawn both from the commercial and academic worlds with a remit to deliver timely product and market focused strategies for the most effective application of capital into new development programs aimed at both delivering improved outcomes for patients and enhanced shareholder value for investors.
Through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Massachusetts is investing $1 billion over ten years in the growth of the state’s life sciences supercluster. These investments are being made under the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative, proposed by Governor Deval Patrick in 2007, and passed by the State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Patrick in 2008.
“We are excited to welcome Xenetic to the Massachusetts Life Sciences supercluster,” said Susan Windham-Bannister, Ph.D., President & CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. “Their presence here will contribute to our economy and strengthen our state’s global leadership in the life sciences. I am confident that Xenetic will find all of the resources and partners that the company needs to grow and succeed right here in Massachusetts.”
“Massachusetts, a global leader in the life sciences, is proud to welcome Xenetic. Their decision to locate in Massachusetts is a clear reflection of the international strength and draw of the Commonwealth’s innovation economy ecosystem and the success of the Administration’s continued commitment to fostering a thriving life sciences supercluster,” said Ken Brown, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment. “We congratulate Xenetic and look forward to partnering with them.”
The announcement comes as the state is preparing to host the 2012 BIO International Convention, being held June 18-21 at the Massachusetts Convention & Exhibition Center. The Convention provides state and industry leaders an opportunity to showcase Massachusetts as a great place to do business for international life sciences companies. “We are thrilled to welcome an innovative company like Xenetic to Massachusetts and look forward to working with their team to make them feel at home here,” said MassBio President & CEO Robert K. Coughlin. “We know that international companies looking to grow in the United States will not find a more concentrated and diverse life sciences supercluster anywhere.”
