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For Release 11th August 2006 NEXTGEN MAKES STRATEGIC MOVE INTO THE GENE SYNTHESIS MARKET NextGen Group PLC Enters Gene Synthesis Market Through Gene Oracle Licensing and Purchase Option Agreement NextGen Group
PLC, (LSE:NGG) the Cambridge, UK, based “gene-to-protein”
company announced today that it has entered into an agreement with
Gene Oracle Inc. of California, to acquire a global non-exclusive
licence to Gene Oracle’s proprietary gene synthesis products
and services in return for technology transfer fees and ongoing royalty
payments from incremental commercial activities which incorporate
the GeneIOSTM gene synthesis technology. This in line with its strategy
of further developing and introducing products and services to serve
the drug discovery and diagnostics market, and to create a significant
North American presence. This agreement strengthens NextGen’s position in the gene to protein market and expands the range of services that NextGen makes available to its customers. Both companies believe this is an exciting first step towards the possibility of co-developing enhanced products and services to better serve both companies’ client bases in the global gene-to-protein research market. The agreement also incorporates a time bound purchase option, providing NextGen with the exclusive right to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Gene Oracle on terms to be agreed. Commenting on the agreement Dr Tony Cox, President and co-founder of Gene Oracle Inc. said: “Gene Oracle has developed Gene Information Operating System (GeneIOSTM) to accelerate drug discovery by enabling greater access, expert optimization and sophisticated manipulation of existing and future genetic sequence data needed to create synthetic gene constructs. We are pleased to be engaged in this important alliance, the agreement provides an opportunity to expand our presence in the market through channels partners such as NextGen for our GeneIOSTM platform.” Dr James Heffernan,
CEO of NextGen Group PLC said “This agreement considerably strengthens
our position as a company providing key products and services to customers
specifically wishing to identify proteins of high commercial value,
not only in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic markets, but also to
anyone in the Gene to Protein research and development market, whatever
the end application. The launch in late 2005 and ongoing commercialisation
of our ContractExpressTM fee-for-service business has been a key goal
for the company. Already we are running fee for service contracts
with a number of internationally recognised pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies and now we have access to the robust GeneIOSTM gene synthesis
technology we believe this will not only reinforce our existing position
in the market but will also position us to capture a share of the
rapidly growing gene synthesis market in both Europe and the USA.
In Gene Oracle we have an innovative partner with whom we can work
to quickly market new products in response to the demands of both
companies' customer bases.”
Dr James G Heffernan Kenneth Mitchell
Mike Wort, Anna
Dunphy Notes to Editors: NextGen Group PLC (LSE:NGG) floated on the AIM market in London in December 2005 raising £1.9 million in an oversubscribed offering which included strong institutional investor support from Germany as well as in the UK. The Agreement
with Gene Oracle Inc. follows on from the successful commercial alliance
formed with Proteomic Research Services Inc. of Michigan, USA which
was announced in January and considerably widened the scope of services
that NextGen could supply to its customer base.
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