LONDON, January 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Spirogen Ltd. ("Spirogen") a leading oncology-focused company developing DNA sequence targeted agents, announced a multi-year research collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY).

The two companies will collaborate on the discovery and development of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) as potential anticancer agents, using Spirogen's proprietary PBD drugs and associated linker technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Spirogen will be primarily responsible for synthesizing and manufacturing drug reagents, while Genentech will use Spirogen's drug reagents to generate ADCs and evaluate their potential therapeutic utility. Genentech will have the exclusive license to fully develop and commercialize licensed products that contain these ADCs.

Terms of the multi-year collaboration include an initial one-off license fee, development milestones on reaching pre-defined targets and further milestones and royalties for licensed products.

"We are hopeful that this collaboration with Genentech will allow us to accelerate the development of ADCs based on our potent PBD drugs with one of the leading companies in the ADC field," said Christopher Martin, CEO of Spirogen.

"We are pleased to enter into this collaboration with Spirogen," said James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of Genentech Partnering. "We believe ADCs have the potential to meaningfully impact the treatment of cancer. Genentech is committed to exploring the biology and clinical potential of ADCs in a variety of tumor types."

ABOUT SPIROGEN LIMITED

Spirogen is a privately-owned UK company, founded in 2001 by Professor David Thurston (now at the School of Pharmacy, University of London), Dr. Phillip Howard, Professor John Hartley (University College London) and Dr. Chris Martin. The company is pioneering the discovery and development of a unique class of low molecular weight sequence-specific DNA-interactive drugs designed to treat gene-mediated diseases. Spirogen's proprietary chemistry-based platform technology, based on the modification of members of a group of natural antibiotics called pyrrolobenzodiazepines (PBDs), forms the basis of a research effort that began over a decade ago to develop novel therapeutics with potential application in a number of markets. Spirogen's website is http://www.spirogen.com.

    ENQUIRIES

    Spirogen Limited
    Dr. Christopher Martin
    Chief Executive Officer
    +44(0)7788-72-05-72
    Chris.Martin@Spirogen.com

    U.K. Media Relations
    John Dineen
    Financial Dynamics
    +44(0)207-269-7193
    John.dineen@fd.com

SOURCE Spirogen Ltd

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