CEVEC announces new license agreement for its AAV manufacturing technology ELEVECTA^(R) in gene therapy

• Under the agreement CEVEC grants Biogen rights to its proprietary ELEVECTA^(R) Technology for manufacturing of gene therapy products
• ELEVECTA^(R) stable producer cell lines enable fully scalable, helper virus-free AAV vector production in suspension bioreactors

Cologne, Germany, January 8, 2021

CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH (CEVEC) today announced the signing of a license agreement with Biogen Inc. (Biogen; Nasdaq: BIIB) for the use of CEVEC's proprietary ELEVECTA^(R) Technology for the manufacturing of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for gene therapy applications.

Under the terms of the agreement, CEVEC grants Biogen a non-exclusive license for CEVEC's ELEVECTA^(R) Technology. The deal will afford Biogen the rights to use the technology across their portfolio of gene therapy products. Under the license, CEVEC is eligible for technology access and milestone fees, including clinical development and commercial milestones, as well as royalties on net sales of products. No further details of the agreement were disclosed.

"We are delighted to strengthen our collaboration with Biogen with this license agreement, enabling them to use the ELEVECTA^(R) Technology as a platform and to efficiently manufacture AAV vectors for their growing gene therapy portfolio," said Dr. Nicole Faust, CEO of CEVEC. "Over the last several years we have seen a strong need across Pharma and Biotech companies to establish scalable and robust manufacturing technologies for AAV vectors. This agreement represents the next major step on our ELEVECTA^(R) journey. Biogen has been a great collaboration partner and we look forward to continuing to support them with our innovative technologies".

About ELEVECTA^(R)

The ELEVECTA^(R) Technology is an innovative technology platform developed and marketed by CEVEC for the production of AAV gene therapy vectors. The technology is based on stable, helper virus-free producer cell lines which have all functions required for AAV production stably integrated into the genome of a producer cell, including the capsid and the transgene. Unlike with other technologies, neither transient transfection nor helper virus is needed for production, enabling low batch-to-batch variations. ELEVECTA^(R) is fully compatible with standard processes and methods for purification and analysis. Custom-made producer cell lines can serve as research cell banks or as fully tested cGMP Master Cell Banks for manufacturing of clinical and commercial material. The technology is patent-protected by CEVEC and overcomes the limitations of current manufacturing methods with its superior scalability, process stability and product quality.

About CEVEC

CEVEC is a leading provider of high-performance cell technology for the manufacturing of advanced biotherapeutics from R&D to manufacturing scale. The company's product portfolio comprises platform technologies for gene therapy viral vectors (AAV, Adeno, Oncolytic viruses) and complex recombinant proteins. With ELEVECTA^(R) CEVEC has developed the first technology which stably incorporates all elements required for AAV production into the genome of one producer cell. CEVEC's CAP^(R) Technology based on human suspension cells is the ideal production platform for RCA-free adenoviral vectors, oncolytic viruses, viral vaccines and exosomes. With CAP^(R) Go CEVEC provides a solution to the increasing need for recombinant production of complex and highly glycosylated protein molecules, including laminins, coagulation factors, and plasma proteins.

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