In conjunction, Juvaris transitions to a virtual entity and CEO Grant E. Pickering focuses on Executive-in-Residence role at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company developing adjuvants, adjuvanted vaccines and immunotherapeutics for infectious diseases and cancer, today announced it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Colby Pharmaceutical Company for the worldwide development and commercialization of Juvaris’ Cationic Lipid-DNA Complex (CLDC) technology and JVRS-100 product candidate, including its intellectual property estate and human clinical development programs, in the field of human (non-animal) health.
In exchange for the license, Colby will pay to Juvaris cash, development-related milestones and royalties on product sales. Additionally, Colby will bear all development and commercialization-related expenses and support certain ongoing expenses and assume certain liabilities of Juvaris. In connection with the transaction, Jeff Fairman, Ph.D., co-founder and former VP of Research at Juvaris, has assumed the same operating role at Colby at their facilities in San Jose, California.
"We are pleased with the Colby agreement and also with the progress made by our other alliance partner, Bayer AG, as they progress the CLDC technology toward commercialization in the field of animal health. Colby will commercialize JVRS-100-based products in the field of human health. With both deals consummated, we will transition Juvaris into virtual mode to capture the value generated by our two licensees’ ongoing development efforts,” said Grant E. Pickering, CEO of Juvaris.
Colby CEO, David Zarling stated, “Colby is very pleased to have licensed JVRS-100 and see it as a breakthrough for stimulation of immunity. JVRS-100 can be synergistic with Colby’s small molecule drugs that modulate-signal transduction, -inflammation or -immune suppression. Colby’s newly-hired VP of Research, Jeff Fairman, was the scientific founder of Juvaris. Dr. Fairman discovered the immunostimulatory properties of JVRS-100 and with this license, Colby will develop therapeutics to target newly identified intersections of human immunity, inflammation and pathophysiology.”
Juvaris enacted a strategic out-licensing process in the fourth quarter of 2010 to advance the Company’s adjuvanted vaccines and immunotherapeutics. The completion of this process triggers Juvaris’ transition into a virtual entity with continuing oversight from its Board of Directors, its CEO, Grant Pickering, and its CFO, Kimberlee Gonzaga. Mr. Pickering will now primarily focus on his Executive-in-Residence role at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB).
“Grant and his team have done an excellent job creating multiple ways to win for Juvaris investors. We are excited to have him at KPCB as an EIR, as he works with us to find the next promising opportunity in the biotech field,” commented Brook Byers, partner at KPCB and Juvaris investor.
About Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Inc.
Juvaris is a virtual biotech company with licensees advancing its Cationic Lipid-DNA Complex (CLDC) technology to develop adjuvanted vaccines and immunotherapeutics to treat infectious diseases and cancer in the fields of human health (Colby) and animal health (Bayer AG). The Company licensed animal health rights to Bayer AG in 2008 and human health (non-animal) rights to Colby Pharmaceutical Company in 2011.
About Colby Pharmaceutical Company
Colby is a privately held biotechnology company based in San Jose, CA and Madison, WI. Colby is developing new oral small molecule signal transduction modulator drugs and immune modulator biopharmaceuticals for cancer, chronic inflammation, pain, and neurodegenerative disease. Their lead small molecule candidates have unique mechanisms of action and are in newly discovered pathways for molecular targeted therapies to treat patients with hard to treat infection and inflammation, hematologic malignancies, carcinomas, i.e., hepatocellular carcinoma and prostate carcinoma, especially recurrent prostate cancer and neuropathic pain, with minimal toxicities and side effects.
CONTACT:
Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Inc.
Grant E. Pickering
Chief Executive Officer
206-999-9129
[email protected]
or
Colby Pharmaceutical Company
David A. Zarling
Chief Executive Officer
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America California
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Infectious Diseases Pharmaceutical Research Science
MEDIA:
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