Contact Information: Contact: Rachel Levine Director Corporate Development & Communications Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. T: (646) 284-9439 E: rlevine@cbiolabs.com
Cleveland BioLabs Establishes Joint Venture to Develop Curaxin Compounds for Cancer Applications
| Source: Cleveland BioLabs, Inc.
BUFFALO, NY--(Marketwire - December 30, 2009) - Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (NASDAQ : CBLI ) today
announced that it has formally entered into a 50/50 joint venture, Incuron,
with Bioprocess Capital Ventures, a Russian Federation venture capital
fund, to develop the Company's Curaxin compounds for cancer applications.
According to the terms of the agreement, CBLI will transfer rights to its
pipeline of Curaxin anticancer molecules to the new joint venture, and
Bioprocess Capital Ventures will contribute approximately $18 million over
three payments to support development of the compounds. The first payment
of $5.8 million is due upon formation of the Incuron entity. The ensuing
payments are based upon achievement of predetermined development
milestones. The first milestone payment of $6.4 million shall be made upon
approval to begin clinical trials on oncology patients with a selected lead
Curaxin compound, or upon progression of a clinical program of CBLC102.
The second milestone payment shall be made upon completion of at least one
Phase I/II trial in cancer patients. CBLI will serve as a subcontractor to
Incuron to support certain mechanistic studies and oversee clinical
development.
Michael Fonstein, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Cleveland
BioLabs, stated, "We are excited to conclude this deal and move our lead
next generation Curaxin compounds into human trials. We believe this
transaction reflects the outstanding potential of Curaxins as novel
anti-cancer drugs with unique mechanism of action and projected broad
ranging activity. The investment into the joint venture enables us to
expedite development of this class of drugs towards efficacy testing in
cancer patients."
Vladimir Tezov, MD, General Director of Bioprocess Capital Partners and
manager of Bioprocess Capital Ventures, commented, "We are pleased to
conclude this joint venture which provides a solid foundation for the rapid
development of novel and highly promising anticancer compounds for both the
Russian Federation and global markets."
About Bioprocess Capital Ventures
Bioprocess Capital Ventures is a Russian Federation venture capital fund
managed by the limited liability company, Bioprocess Capital Partners. The
total size of the fund is 3 billion rubles (approximately $100 million).
Investors in the fund include government corporations such as Russian
Venture Company and VneshEconomBank (VEB), the Bioprocess group of
companies, and other institutional and private investors. The fund focuses
on investments in innovative technologies in the life
sciences/biotechnology and fine chemistry sectors.
About Cleveland BioLabs, Inc.
Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. is a drug discovery and development company
leveraging its proprietary discoveries around programmed cell death to
develop treatments for cancer and protection of normal tissues from
exposure to radiation and other stresses. The Company has strategic
partnerships with the Cleveland Clinic, Roswell Park Cancer Institute,
ChemBridge Corporation and the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research
Institute. To learn more about Cleveland BioLabs, Inc., please visit the
company's website at http://www.cbiolabs.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements reflect management's current expectations, as of the date of
this press release, and involve certain risks and uncertainties. The
Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in
these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Some of
the factors that could cause future results to materially differ from the
recent results or those projected in forward-looking statements include the
"Risk Factors" described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 30, 2009.