BIOMAY and STALLERGENES have signed a patent licence agreement

Today, Biomay (Vienna – Austria) and Stallergenes (Antony – France) announce the signature of a patent licence agreement on the gene encoding for the birch pollen major allergen Bet v 1a.

This agreement represents an important step to the use of recombinant major allergens instead of natural allergenic extracts currently used for specific immunotherapy treatments.

To set up the proof of concept, a large European multicenter study has begun in Austria, Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy using a recombinant Bet v1a and the current commercial extract.

Assuming positive results, Stallergenes is willing to develop a recombinant Bet v 1a based desensitization treatment, on tablet form, which is expected to reach the market in 2007 – 2008.This kind of treatment should represent an important step forward in the therapy of allergic diseases caused by birch pollen, affecting more than 20 million people worldwide mainly in Northern Europe and North America.

"We are very excited to initiate this study that should demonstrate for the first time the major interest of recombinant allergens for SIT and particularly happy to collaborate with Biomay which is the indisputable leader in the development of recombinant allergens " says Albert Saporta, Chairman and CEO of Stallergènes.

“We are also very pleased about the cooperation with Stallergènes, which offers the opportunity to make a large step towards the application of recombinant allergens” remarks Max Bayerl, CEO of Biomay AG.