PARIS and HOLLISTON, Mass., Dec. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellectis (Alternext: ALCLS), the French genome engineering specialist, and Harvard Apparatus, a division of Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq: HBIO), a global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of a broad range of tools to advance life science research and regenerative medicine, have announced today that they have signed a license agreement that grants Harvard Apparatus the worldwide exclusive right to manufacture and sell, for research use, the full line of electroporation-based instruments acquired by Cellectis from CytoPulse in September of 2010. Cellectis retains all rights to the use of these products for its own research and development programs as well as in clinical trials and prophylactic or therapeutic procedures, for both humans and animals.

In the agreement, Cellectis will receive a payment of $1.3M from Harvard Apparatus. Cellectis will retain some annual licensing fees owed by existing and new customers. The CytoPulse instruments involved include DermaVax, OncoVet, Hybrimune, Cyto-LVT-S and Cyto-LVT-P.

"We are delighted to work with Harvard Apparatus on the distribution of this very efficient technology", declared Dirk Pollet, Chief Business Officer for Cellectis. "This deal provides Harvard Apparatus with an excellent new product line, while generating a robust revenue stream for Cellectis. In addition, it allows the technology to be made available to the research community to explore its potential."

Chane Graziano, CEO of Harvard Bioscience, commented, "This license significantly expands the cell biology research product line offered by Harvard Apparatus under the Warner Instruments and BTX brands.  The technology is quite unique and patent protected and will provide our research customers with new tools to perform their electroporation and electrofusion experiments."

About Cellectis

Cellectis is a pioneer in the field of genome engineering. The company designs and markets innovative tools: meganucleases. These molecular scissors enable targeted modifications to DNA, with applications in the research, biomanufacturing, agrobiotechnology and therapeutic sectors.

To date, Cellectis has formed over 20 academic research partnerships and has established more than 50 agreements with pharmaceutical laboratories, seed producers and biotech companies across the world. The company holds exclusive rights to a portfolio of over 260 patents granted or pending.

Since 2007, Cellectis has been listed on the NYSE-Euronext Alternext market (code: ALCLS) in Paris and has secured over euro 70 million in funding since inception.

More information at www.cellectis.com

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About Harvard Apparatus

Harvard Bioscience ("HBIO") is a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialized products, primarily apparatus and scientific instruments, used to advance life science research and regenerative medicine. HBIO sells its products to thousands of researchers in over 100 countries primarily through its 850 page catalog (and various other specialty catalogs), its website, through distributors, including GE Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific and VWR, and via our field sales organization. HBIO has sales and manufacturing operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain with additional facilities in France and Canada. For more information, please visit www.harvardbioscience.com.

Disclaimer

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe, or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe, for shares in Cellectis in any country. This press release contains forward-looking statements that relate to the Company's objectives. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations and assumptions of the Company's management only and involve risk and uncertainties. Potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, whether the Company will be successful in implementing its strategies, whether there will be continued growth in the relevant market and demand for the Company's products, new products or technological developments introduced by competitors, and risks associated with managing growth. Unfavorable developments in connection with these and other risks and uncertainties described, in particular, in the Company's prospectus prepared in connection with its IPO and on which the French Autorite des marches financiers ("AMF") granted its visa no. 07-023 on January 22, 2007, could cause the Company to fail to achieve the objectives expressed by the forward-looking statements above.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. You can identify these statements by our use of such words as "will," "guidance," "objectives," "optimistic," "potential," "future,"  "expect," "plans," "estimates," "continue," "drive," "strategy," "crucial," "potential," "potentially," "growth," "long-term," "projects," "projected," "produce," "intends," "believes," "goals," "sees," "seek," "develop," "possible," "new," "enabling," "emerging," "opportunity," "pursue" and similar expressions that do not relate to historical matters. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, but are not limited to, statements or inferences about the Company's or management's beliefs or expectations, including with respect to the impact of the Company's acquisition of Coulbourn Instruments and the future performance of the acquired business, the field of regenerative medicine, opportunities or potential opportunities in the field of regenerative medicine, the Company's business strategy, the positioning of the Company for growth, the market demand and opportunity for the Company's current products or products it is developing or intends to develop, and the Company's plans, objectives and intentions that are not historical facts. 

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include the Company's inability to integrate the business acquired from Coulbourn Instruments, the failure of the business acquired from Coulbourn Instruments to perform in accordance with management's beliefs or expectations, the existence and size of opportunities in the behavior research market, the Company's failure to successfully expand its product offerings, introduce new products or commercialize new technologies, including in the field of regenerative medicine, decreased demand for the Company's products, including products in the field of regenerative medicine, due to changes in our customers' needs, our ability to obtain regulatory approvals, including FDA approval, for our products, including any products in the field of regenerative medicine, the current size or anticipated size of the regenerative medicine market, the existence and size of opportunities in the regenerative medicine market, our financial position, general economic outlook or other circumstances, overall economic trends, our ability to manage our growth, competition from our competitors, technological changes resulting in our products becoming obsolete, our ability to protect our intellectual property and operate without infringing on others' intellectual property, potential costs of any lawsuits to protect or enforce our intellectual property, research funding levels from endowments at our university customers, plus factors described under the heading "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009 or described in the Company's other public filings. The Company's results may also be affected by factors of which the Company is not currently aware. The Company may not update these forward-looking statements, even though its situation may change in the future, unless it has obligations under the federal securities laws to update and disclose material developments related to previously disclosed information.

SOURCE Cellectis