iBio European Plague Vaccine Patent Emerges From Opposition Period

Download as PDF

NEWARK, DE -- (Marketwired) -- 03/30/15 -- iBio, Inc. (NYSE MKT: IBIO), today announced it received notice from the European Patent Office that the opposition period expired for a bio-defense product patent granted to iBio, and no opposition was filed.

The patent, entitled "Yersinia Pestis Antigens, Vaccine Compositions and Related Methods" (European patent EP 2178558), includes claims covering plague antigens fused to a thermostable protein such as the Company's iBioModulator ™ thermostable immunomodulator, as well as vaccine compositions and a method for producing the antigen.

"This is an important extension of our commercial platform," said Robert Erwin, iBio's president. "We expect our success with vaccine and therapeutic product candidates for use against serious infectious disease agents with weapon potential, such as plague bacillus, to be of interest to governments and companies engaged in supplying disease countermeasures."

iBio technology has been successfully applied to the creation of vaccine candidates for plague and for a plague-anthrax combination vaccine with development and testing funded by the U.S. government. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classify plague as a Category A disease, which means "it poses a risk to national security because it can be easily disseminated or transmitted from person to person, results in high mortality rates and has the potential for a major public health impact, might cause public panic and social disruption, and requires special action for public health preparedness."

There is no plague vaccine currently approved for use in the U.S. Although killed whole-cell plague vaccines have been reported to protect against bubonic plague in animal models, such vaccines were not effective against pneumonic plague. By contrast, data previously published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Vaccine, demonstrated that a recombinant plague vaccine incorporating the iBioModulator protein, and produced via the iBioLaunch™ gene expression platform in green plants, provided full protection of non-human primates against aerosolized Y. pestis (pneumonic plague).

Additional infectious disease and bio-defense applications of iBio technology include an anthrax vaccine currently in a Phase 1 human clinical trial and therapeutic antibodies targeting pathogens such as influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and Ebola virus.

About iBio, Inc.

iBio is developing proprietary products for the treatment of a range of fibrotic diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, systemic sclerosis, and scleroderma. IBIO-CFB03, produced using the company's iBioLaunch™ gene expression platform, is the first product candidate from this program designated for IND development. The company also offers proprietary products and product licenses to others, based on its proprietary iBioLaunch gene expression and iBioModulator™ thermostable immunomodulator protein platforms, providing collaborators full support for turn-key implementation of its technology for protein therapeutics and vaccines. In Brazil, iBio has formed a subsidiary company, iBio do Brasil Biofarmaceutical Ltda., and has been collaborating with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) since 2011 to develop a recombinant yellow fever vaccine based on iBio technology.

The iBioLaunch gene expression platform is a proprietary, transformative technology for development and production of biologics using transient gene expression in unmodified green plants. The iBioModulator platform is complementary to the iBioLaunch gene expression platform and is designed to significantly improve vaccine products with both higher potency and greater duration of effect. Further information is available at: www.ibioinc.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

STATEMENTS INCLUDED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE RELATED TO IBIO, INC. MAY CONSTITUTE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995. SUCH STATEMENTS INVOLVE A NUMBER OF RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES SUCH AS COMPETITIVE FACTORS, TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, MARKET DEMAND, AND THE COMPANY'S ABILITY TO OBTAIN NEW CONTRACTS AND ACCURATELY ESTIMATE NET REVENUES DUE TO VARIABILITY IN SIZE, SCOPE AND DURATION OF PROJECTS. FURTHER INFORMATION ON POTENTIAL RISK FACTORS THAT COULD AFFECT THE COMPANY'S FINANCIAL RESULTS CAN BE FOUND IN THE COMPANY'S REPORTS FILED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION.

Source: iBio, Inc.

Released March 30, 2015