WESTFIELD, N.J., March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- StormBio, Inc. and Imperial Innovations Group plc (Imperial Innovations), the technology commercialization and investment company based at Imperial College London, today announced an agreement to license patents and know-how for development of a novel therapy for life-threatening influenza and other inflammatory diseases.
This agreement will permit StormBio to develop a new class of therapeutics to save lives and reduce disability from flu and other inflammatory diseases.
The StormBio therapeutic will differ from current influenza treatments by targeting the body’s over-reaction of the inflammatory process, without shutting down the immune response. The October, 2006 issue of Nature Medicine, reported that excessive inflammation can be a prime cause of death and disability from influenza A (H5N1) infection, also known as Avian Flu.
Steve Brozak, Chairman and CEO of StormBio said, “Our novel approach to treating life-threatening influenza could save large numbers of lives during an influenza pandemic.” He added, “Our approach to controlling inflammation, pioneered by Professor Tracy Hussell, at Imperial College, could lead to a wide range of applications in the fight against severely disabling and life-threatening diseases.”
Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations said, “Steve Brozak and the StormBio team, based in the USA, provide experienced partners for the development and application of our technology. We are pleased to be working with them.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) and governments from several nations have predicted that an influenza pandemic is inevitable and overdue. They report that it is not a question of if, but when an influenza pandemic will strike.
During the last hundred years, influenza pandemics have struck on average every 30 years. The worst influenza pandemic on record occurred in 1918, when an estimated 50 million people died of flu. The most recent flu pandemic was the Hong Kong flu, in 1968.
StormBio (http://www.stormbio.com) is a biopharmaceutical company that in-licenses and develops innovative anti-inflammatory therapies to treat a wide range of medical conditions. The first application for StormBio’s technology is treatment of life-threatening influenza. Subsequent applications include other severe acute inflammatory conditions and eventually chronic inflammatory conditions.
Imperial Innovations (http://www.imperialinnovations.co.uk) is one of the UK’s leading technology transfer and commercialization companies. The company was founded in 1986 and its ordinary shares admitted to trading on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange plc in July 2006, raising £26 million. The company’s integrated approach encompasses the identification of ideas, protection of intellectual property, development and licensing of technology and formation, incubation and investment in technology businesses. A wide range of technologies are commercialized within the areas of healthcare, energy, environment and emerging technology trends.
Based at Imperial College London, the company has established equity holdings in 66 technology businesses and has completed 90 commercial agreements. Imperial Innovations also commercializes technologies originating from outside Imperial College through incubation contracts with the Carbon Trust and WRAP and has relationships with a number of multinational corporations including BAE Systems.
Imperial Innovations has invested in a range of spin-out companies, including The Acrobot Company Limited, Advanced Tissue Therapies Limited, Cardiak Limited, Circassia Holdings Limited, deltaDOT Limited, Equinox Pharma Limited, Future Waves PTE Limited, HeliSwirl Technologies Limited, InforSense Limited, Lontra Limited, Midaz Lasers Limited, NanoBioDesign Limited, Nexeon Limited, NovaThera Limited, Thiakis Limited and Veryan Medical Limited.
Imperial Innovations currently holds shares in four technology businesses now listed on AIM including the fuel cell company, Ceres Power plc.
StormBio, Inc.
CONTACT: Henry Bassman of StormBio, Inc., +1-908-518-7613, mobile,+1-908-693-9999; or Susan Searle of Imperial Innovations, +44 (0)207 5846591
