BioWorld International Correspondent

PARIS - Vivalis and Aventis Pasteur SA signed a research collaboration and licensing agreement under which Aventis will use Vivalis' avian stem cell lines to enhance its vaccine production processes.

The deal provides for Aventis Pasteur, the Lyon-based vaccines subsidiary of the Franco-German pharmaceutical group Aventis SA, of Strasbourg, to combine its ALVAC canarypox vector technology with the avian stem cell platform of Vivalis, of Nantes, to improve the large-scale production of different ALVAC-based vaccine candidates. The vaccines will be used in its research to find preventive treatments against HIV and cancer.

In addition, Vivalis has granted Aventis Pasteur an option for using its stem cell lines in the production of another "important viral vaccine." The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Aventis Pasteur is to pay Vivalis an initial fee on the signing of the contract, followed by milestone payments and royalties on future vaccine sales.

Aventis Pasteur already has evaluated the merits of using Vivalis' avian stem cell lines in its vaccine production under an earlier research agreement signed in September 2001. Jeffrey Almond, Aventis Pasteur's senior vice president, global research and development, said Vivalis' technology has proved its worth in "increasing the scale of production of a range of vaccine candidates." He pointed out that "several ALVAC vaccine candidates are currently in advanced stages of clinical development" and that the company is thus "having to consider the possibility of utilizing innovative large-scale production methods."

Aventis Pasteur is one of the world's leading vaccine companies, having produced 1.4 billion doses in 2002 for the protection of 500 million people worldwide against 20 different bacterial and viral infections.

For its part, Vivalis has developed a technology for cultivating embryonic stem cells in transgenic chickens and rabbits, and uses the technology to produce therapeutic recombinant proteins (such as antibodies, peptides and cytokines) in the eggs of genetically modified chickens, as well as stem cells, primary cells and cell lines for the biopharmaceutical industry, in particular for vaccine production.

Vivalis, which completed an initial funding round in February in which it raised €3 million from three French venture capital funds, is nearing completion of a GLP/GMP facility for cultivating new cell lines to be used in the production of vaccines that are due to enter clinical development in 2005-06. The company's CEO, Franck Grimaud, said the facility should be operational by the end of June.