Medgenics signs $7 million agreement to develop the Biopump technology for Factor VIII

Medgenics (AIM:MEDG)(AIM:MEDU) is pleased to announce that it has signed a preclinical development and option agreement with a major international biopharmaceutical company that is a market leader in the field of hemophilia. This groundbreaking feasibility agreement is worth up to $7 million in payments that will include funding for preclinical development of Medgenics’ Biopump protein technology to produce and deliver clotting protein Factor VIII for the sustained treatment of hemophilia.

Under the terms of the agreement, Medgenics will receive $4 million to work exclusively with this partner for one year to develop a Biopump to test the feasibility of continuous production and delivery of this clotting protein. Additional payments totaling $3 million are payable upon Medgenics meeting certain technical milestones and upon the partner’s exercise of an option to extend the exclusivity through an additional period to negotiate terms to commercialize the Biopump technology for Factor VIII. This is a new application of the Biopump tissue protein therapeutic platform, which has previously demonstrated success in the production of erythropoietin (“EPO”) in treating renal anemia and interferon alpha for use in treating hepatitis-C. The market for Factor VIII is greater than $3.2 billion per year (La Marie 2008), and according to the World Federation of Hemophilia, some 400,000 people in the world have hemophilia.