Imperial Innovations grants exclusive IP license to Novartis for Meningitis B vaccine

Technology commercialisation and investment company Imperial Innovations Group (AIM: IVO) has entered into a licence agreement with Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis AG. Through the deal the drug-maker has acquired the exclusive worldwide licence to the intellectual property for a novel vaccine candidate against Meningitis B.

Imperial Innovations has received an upfront payment and is entitled to ongoing licence fees, success based milestones and royalties on product sales, although further financial details of the transactions were not disclosed. “If successful, such a product could provide a significant royalty stream to Imperial Innovations: it underlines our strategy of not only forming companies but also of partnering research with industry leaders to develop assets that address important markets", Imperial Innovations CEO Susan Searle commented.

Novartis’ Vaccines and Diagnostics division is developing the new vaccine candidate, which is based on the work of Professor Christoph Tang's research group at Imperial College London and collaborator Professor Susan Lea at  Oxford University. The new vaccine candidate is currently in the preclinical stage of development.

"Meningitis B can be a devastating disease and there is an urgent need to create an effective vaccine against it”, Professor Tang said, “Results of our work to date gives us a clearer understanding of how meningococcal bacteria shield themselves from the immune system and has provided a route to tailor new vaccines to fight this important human pathogen."

Whilst vaccines against the Meningitis A and C strains are already commercially available,  the Meningitis B strain, which accounts for around 90% of cases of the disease in the UK, is not addressed by current vaccines. This novel vaccine candidate has the potential to produce an enhanced immune response, which may confer greater protection against the disease than existing candidates currently in development, Imperial Innovation said.

As part of the deal, Novartis will also fund a £1 million research and development programme over two years at Imperial College London, Oxford University and the Health Protection Agency. The programme is aimed at the further validation of the new vaccine candidate in preclinical models.

Imperial Innovations has exclusive access to scientific and technological developments from London’s Imperial College, one of the world's leading research institutions. In the year to July 2009, Innovations invested £14.4 million in 20 ventures and helped launch six new companies.

The IP company has a technology portfolio of more than 80 companies. Imperial Innovations' most advanced assets include power-generator innovation group Ceres Power (AIM: CWR) which floated on the AIM market in 2004, allergy treatment developer Circassia, rechargeable battery developer Nexeon, asthma treatment focused Respivert and VeryanMed.  http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/12677/imperial-innovations-grants-exclusive-ip-license-to-novartis-for-meningitis-b-vaccine-12677.html