Liège and Oxford, April 26, 2006. Eurogentec S.A. and Oxford Gene Technology (OGT) are pleased to announce the conclusion of a licensing agreement, wherein Eurogentec has acquired a licence to  OGT’s “Southern array patents”, the fundamental patents covering the manufacture and use and marketing of oligonucleotide microarrays. The licence will remain valid for the patents’ lifetime.

Commenting on the agreement, Dr. Driss Talibi, DNA Array Product Manager at Eurogentec, said “We were in contact with OGT at the earliest stage to discuss the successful agreement, which further strengthens our position in the market segment of custom-made oligo-based microarrays”. Jean-Pierre Delwart, CEO at Eurogentec, further added “The agreement is very important for our genomic oligo business and we believe that this licence will strongly contribute to increase our HTP oligo business”.  

Dr Mike Evans, Chief Executive of OGT, said: “We are happy to support Eurogentec’s technology by granting this licence. We continue to extend our licensing policy whilst expanding our focus on the development of microarray based products and our custom service offering for the life sciences research and diagnostic markets.”

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For further information, please contact:

At Eurogentec:

Jean-Pierre Delwart, CEO – j.p.delwart@eurogentec.com
Isabelle Body, Communications Manager – i.body@eurogentec.com

EUROGENTEC S.A.
LIEGE Science Park
B-4102 Seraing - Belgium

T: + 32 4 372 74 00
F: + 32 4 372 75 00
E: info@eurogentec.com
W: www.eurogentec.com 

At Oxford Gene Technology:

Nicola Booton-Mander, Marketing Manager – nicola.booton-mander@ogt.co.uk

Oxford Gene Technology
Begbroke Science Park,
Sandy Lane, Yarnton
Oxford OX5 1PF

T: +44 1865 856340
F: +44 1865 379433
E: licensing@ogt.co.uk
W: www.ogt.co.uk

Media Enquiries:

Sarah Jeffery, 0207 886 8150 / s.jeffery@northbankcommunications.com
Annabel Entress, 0207 886 8150 / a.entress@northbankcommunications.com

Notes to editors

About Oxford Gene Technology

Oxford Gene Technology is a privately owned company founded in 1995 by Professor Sir Edwin Southern. The mission of the company is to develop advanced molecular tools for biologists and to make them widely available through licensing, products and service activities.

The key business areas of OGT include:

·          licensing which has successfully provided access for a number of companies to OGT’s fundamental intellectual property, particularly in the area of microarrays. OGT's intellectual property covers three general areas that are relevant to the biological sciences; these incorporate microarrays, genomics and electrochemistry 

·          application products and services for life science research and molecular diagnostics. OGT is committed to the development of a portfolio of products to cover important, high-growth applications, including comparative genome hybridisation (CGH) and ChIP on chip. OGT also provides a flexible and cost-effective, customised DNA microarray service and offers specialist support to assist customers with every aspect of their research

·          development of innovative platform products. Current development projects include

o        Multisample arrays for clinical research and diagnostics

o        Analysis of genomic events at the single cell level

·          scientific collaborations to generate diagnostic marker intellectual property

OGT’s management team brings a unique combination of world-recognised science, combined with a strong track record in licensing intellectual property, product development and commercialisation of technology.  A key element of the company’s business model is to collaborate with leading scientific centres and commercial partners to bring new products and services to market.

About Eurogentec

Eurogentec was founded in 1985 as a spin-off of the University of Liège (Belgium). Its mission is to design and deliver reliable and innovative services and products for the Life-Science community. As a leading supplier for genomic and proteomic research, Eurogentec is able to offer its customers integrated solutions, whether they use DNA, antibodies, peptides or proteins as research tools. Eurogentec also offers research and development services for the biopharmaceutical industry.

During the past years, Eurogentec has developed a broad platform of enabling technologies. The activities are organised around 2 business units.

The «Tools for Genomics and Proteomics» department offers oligonucleotide synthesis with a large range of modifications, oligonucleotides for In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD), Real-Time PCR products, DNA MicroArray services and a wide range of kits and consumables. It also gathers know-how in the design of peptides, either for antibody production or bioactive peptide purposes. Antibody production in a wide range of animal models as well as Peptide-, Antibody- and ProteinArrays are also amongst its expertise.

Eurogentec’s «Biologics» unit is a full-service Contract Manufacturing Organisation (CMO) delivering research, development and production services for cGMP clinical batch manufacturing.

The EGT Group currently employs around 276 people, including around 30 PhDs. In 2001, Eurogentec has been awarded “Belgium’s entrepreneur of the Year”. In 2002, Eurogentec received the Walloon Region award for exports in Europe.