Algenex and Virbac sign international commercial licensing agreement for CrisBio®-based vaccine in major swine indication

PRESS RELEASE

Algenex and Virbac sign international commercial licensing agreement for CrisBio^®-based vaccine in major swine indication

Madrid (Spain) and Carros (France), February 22, 2021 – Algenex SL, a VC-backed biotechnology company delivering disruptive technologies for recombinant biologics production, and Virbac, the sixth largest animal health company worldwide, today announce that they have entered into an international licensing agreement for the development and commercialization of a CrisBio®-based vaccine in a major swine indication.

The vaccine will be developed jointly and manufactured using CrisBio®, Algenex’ proprietary and patent protected Baculovirus vector-mediated expression platform that harnesses the power of insects to act as natural single-use bioreactors. CrisBio® represents a new paradigm in biologics production, offering a quick, linearly scalable solution to meet the global demand for recombinant protein production without significant capex investment. Algenex anticipates receiving European approval of the first veterinary vaccine produced using CrisBio in 2021.

“This new collaboration with Virbac, one of the global leaders in animal health, is another important milestone for Algenex and a further validation of our unique CrisBio® technology and its potential to transform vaccine production in major indications across animal health,” said Claudia Jiménez, CEO of Algenex.

“With this partnership, we will benefit from the experience of Algenex, and by providing a simple, scalable and cost-effective alternative to current bioreactor-based expression technologies on the market, we should be able to increase our footprint in the farm animals’ vaccine market” said Sébastien Huron, CEO, Virbac group.

Commercial and financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The agreement covers all global markets excluding Poland and Italy.

For further information, please contact:

Algenex contact                                                                                               Virbac contact
Claudia Jiménez                                                                                               Manuela Rodriguez
CEO                                                                                                                Director of Investor relations
T: +34 91 452 4941                                                                                         T: +33 (0) 6 22 52 42 55
cjimenez@algenex.com                                                                                    manuela.rodriguez@virbac.com

About Algenex

Algenex is a VC-backed biotechnology company developing disruptive baculovirus-based technologies for the production of recombinant biologics. Algenex´ first two platforms, TopBac® and CrisBio®, are based on baculovirus-based expression systems and have demonstrated their capacity to transform recombinant protein production through a process that provides almost unlimited and immediate linear scalability of manufacturing, production flexibility, simplicity and versatility while being extremely cost efficient.

Algenex has successfully produced >200 molecules in collaboration with public and private partners, including multiple international pharmaceutical companies, including VLPs, monomeric vaccines, diagnostic reagents, enzymes and growth factors.

For more information, please visit http://www.algenex.com

About Virbac

Focusing on animal health, from the beginning. At Virbac, we provide innovative solutions to veterinarians, farmers and animal owners in more than 100 countries around the world. Covering more than 50 species, our range of products and services enables to diagnose, prevent and treat the majority of pathologies. Every day, we are committed to improving animals’ quality of life and to shaping together the future of animal health.

For more information, please visit http://www.virbac.com