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| Apollo Signs Major Supply Agreement with US Giant |
Apollo's hcx proteins | This month (August) Apollo Life Sciences announced it has entered into a supply agreement with a leading US provider of products to the international biopharmaceutical industry.
Apollo will supply Millipore Corporation in the US with human Leukaemia Inhibitory Factor (hLIF) for resale in worldwide markets. The announcement of the agreement has been covered widely in the international industry media, including the highly regarded BioWorld Today and The Life Science Executive Exchange.
LIF is a patented protein that is used to maintain stem cells in an undifferentiated state, prior to their maturation into specialized cells such as insulin-producing cells or heart muscle cells. Apollo's Head of Sales and Marketing for its protein business, Leanne Daly, said the boom in stem cell research, and its inevitable move towards stem cell therapies, means that there will be a rapidly growing need for high potency human LIF to maintain embryonic stem cells in culture.
Apollo will use its proprietary human cell-expressed (hcx™) protein technology to produce human LIF for sale by Millipore under Apollo’s hcx trademark. The company’s first supply of hcx LIF to Millipore is already under way.
Millipore describes itself as a leading provider of products and services that improve productivity in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and in clinical, analytical and research laboratories. The Company is part of the S&P 500 index and employs approximately 5,800 employees in more than 47 offices worldwide.
Apollo is currently the only company in the world that produces a human cell-expressed version of LIF. The deal brings together two major players in the international LIF space: Millipore is the exclusive worldwide supplier of human LIF while Apollo is currently the only company in the world producing a human cell-expressed version of the factor. According to Apollo CEO, John Priest, “the agreement between the two companies is both a natural, and potentially highly lucrative, fit. In effect we corner the market.”
He added that "the contract to supply human LIF demonstrates Apollo’s leading position and capability in producing commercially relevant human-cell expressed (hcx™) proteins”.
“With the rapid global expansion of research involving stem cells, the requirement for a supply of high-potency human LIF to maintain embryonic stem cells in culture is imperative.”
In 2006, worldwide sales of protein reagents such as Apollo’s hcx protein products were estimated to be US$400 million and growing at 15% a year. Apollo has a product range of over 90 human cell expressed proteins.
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| www.apollolifesciences.com |
