ad hoc announcement

MOLOGEN AG: Ground-breaking Contract with Arabian Partners Signed

Berlin, Germany, 2004-08-19

MOLOGEN today announces signature of a key Joint Venture contract with Arabian business partners. A preliminary contract announced at the annual shareholder meeting at the end of May 2004 had paved the way for the current agreement. Cooperating partners in a re-designed and extended contract are Joharji International Development Company (JIDCO), based in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Winner's World Dubai FZ L.L.C, Dubai, and MOLOGEN AG (MOLOGEN), Germany. The Joint Venture expects to have the Saudi Arabian Government and a leading hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, as business partners.

The Joint Venture contract includes three components:

- Sales of up to three turn-key Centers for Cell- and Gene Therapy by MOLOGEN

- Funding of clinical trials on its gene-modified cell-based cancer treatments run by MOLOGEN.

- Option for further access to the MOLOGEN technology suite.

The agreement represents business transactions in favor of MOLOGEN with a financial volume of up to 34 Mill. EUR over a period of three years.

CEO Prof Wittig said: "We had to solve the key question of modern biotech companies: How to get innovative biomedical drugs to the market, which may take six to twelve years of high-risk development, being financed through financial markets thinking in two year or even shorter cycles? By closing this deal with Arabian partners, to establish Arabian Centers for Cell- and Gene Therapy, we not only will substantially improve the financial situation of MOLOGEN short- and long-term, but also found a strategy to get our world-wide highly valued technologies to the pharmaceutical markets. Today, MOLOGEN provides the proof-of-principle that a focused technology development at a minimal burn rate works successfully. This contract will generate an enormous business impact for MOLOGEN."

 

General information about MOLOGEN

MOLOGEN focuses on its proprietary DNA technologies to create and develop treatments for high-unmet-need illnesses. The main focus are the unique and patented MIDGE and dSLIM technologies. Based on these platforms, MOLOGEN is developing DNA-based vaccines and therapeutics to prevent or cure a wide range of diseases.

For its cell-based cancer therapies, MOLOGEN applies gene-modified and immunomodulated tumor cells having their origin in tumors from patients. Tumor cells were subsequently cultivated and established as cell lines. MIDGE DNA constructs and the also DNA-based molecules are then used to modify these cell lines in culture (ex-vivo). Thereby, therapeutic vaccines are produced for the treatment of metastatic states of various cancers.

Going public in 1998, MOLOGEN was one of the first German biotechnology companies to be floated on the stock exchange. The MOLOGEN shares are traded on the Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt.

 

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