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HIV antibody project advances

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) has awarded PlantForm additional funding of up to $97,114 for its HIV antibody development project. The funding allows the company to expand the scope of the project to include in vitro drug candidate evaluation.

“PlantForm has met all project targets to date, using our plant-based technology to successfully produce three antibody drug candidates,” said Dr. Don Stewart, PlantForm President and CEO. “This new funding from IRAP enables us to further evaluate the antibodies in vitro at Duke University in partnership with The Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery.”

“Our government recognizes the importance of research and development to the health and well-being of Canadians,” said the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology). “By providing support to companies like PlantForm, we are helping to create jobs, advancing knowledge in HIV research and the commercialization of critical new drugs.”

Minister of State Goodyear toured company’s greenhouse facilities and met with PlantForm’s management team, Board of Directors Chairman Dr. Mark Goldberg, and laboratory staff Feb. 21.
 
New license agreement with U of G
PlantForm has signed a new, exclusive license with the University of Guelph for technology that drives high levels of protein expression in plants, and for inventions and technologies related to the plant-based production of two anti-cancer drugs, biosimilar bevacizumab and biosimilar cetuximab.

“This license covers a unique combination of vectors that significantly increase antibody production in tobacco plants and related species,” said Dr. Stewart. “This discovery adds to our high-yield system of antibody production, using both transient expression and stable transgenic plants, thus further reducing our already significantly low manufacturing cost.”

Under the terms of the agreement, PlantForm has issued the University of Guelph 200,000 common shares in the company.

Bevacizumab is the generic name for the oncology drug Avastin®, which had $5.8 billion in sales in 2011. Cetuximab the generic name for the oncology drug Erbitux®, which had $1.8 billion in sales in 2011.

Read the news release.


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March 2013
Events
March 13
We’re at the partnering conference BIO-Europe Spring 2013 in Barcelona, Spain to advance R&D collaborations with strategic global and regional pharmaceutical partners.
 
April 11-14 
PlantForm CSO Dr. Chris Hall and Director Research Dr. Mike McLean will present preliminary research findings at the Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research — CAHR 2013 — in Vancouver.
 
April 22-25
PlantForm will attend the BIO International Convention in Chicago.
 
In the News 
Dr. Chris Hall made the front cover of the University of Guelph Research magazine’s 2012-13 Agri-Food Yearbook Edition. Read Tobacco Goes Pink.

Global TV featured Dr. Hall’s work on biosimilar trastuzumab Jan. 19. Watch the Tobacco cancer drug news clip.
 
The agAdvance Journal for Growing Innovations profiled PlantForm and CEO Dr. Don Stewart in its January issue. Read Healing Power of Plants.
 
CEOCFO Magazine published an interview with Dr. Stewart Jan. 21.

Management Team
Don Stewart, PhD
President & CEO

David Cayea, BA
Chief Operating Officer

Ron Hosking, CA
Chief Financial Officer

J. Christopher Hall, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer

Board of Director
Mark Goldberg, PhD, C.Dir.
Chair of the Board of Directors
Founder, GlobalTox

Jim Rae
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Bioniche Life Sciences, Inc.

Warren Whitehead 
former CFO, Arius Research

J. Christopher Hall, PhD
CSO, PlantForm Corp.

Don Stewart, PhD
President & CEO, PlantForm Corp.
PlantForm is a Canadian company focused on providing
low-cost therapeutic antibody drugs that fight cancer and other critical illnesses.

Our mailing address is:
1920 Yonge St, Suite 200
Toronto, Ontario
M4S 3E2  CANADA		 For more information, contact:
Don Stewart
President & CEO
416-452-7242