Vivalis Grants Research Licence To Kyoto Biken To Evaluate Eb66(R) Cell Line For Viral Vaccines Production

NANTES, FRANCE--(Marketwire - February 16, 2010) -

Nantes (France) - Kyoto (Japan), February 16, 2010 - VIVALIS (NYSE Euronext: VLS), a biopharmaceutical company that provides the pharmaceutical industry with innovative cell-based solutions for the manufacture of vaccines and proteins and develops drugs to prevent and treat human diseases, announced today that it has granted KYOTO BIKEN rights to the duck embryonic stem cell derived EB66® cell line to evaluate EB66® cell line for the production viral vaccines.

KYOTO BIKEN declares: "In our continued commitment to always deliver safer and higher quality products to our clients, we are very happy to be able to evaluate the EB66® cell line as a new solution for the manufacture of our products".

"VIVALIS is pleased to enter in this agreement to support R&D efforts of KYOTO BIKEN, one of the largest animal vaccine manufacturers in Japan, for the development of veterinary vaccines produced on EB66® cell line. With more and more EB66® users in Japan, and in the rest of the World, this cell line is becoming a worldwide standard platform for viral vaccines manufacture, either on the Human and veterinary field ", said Franck Grimaud, CEO, and Majid Mehtali, CSO, co-managers of VIVALIS.

Terms of the agreement 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 generation, 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 ATLANTIC BIOTHERAPIES bio-cluster.

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