Imperial Innovations Group Regulatory News (IVO)

27 Mar 2007 10:22

Imperial Innovations Group plc27 March 2007 Imperial Innovations Group plc ("Imperial Innovations") Licensing of Intellectual Property to StormBio Inc Imperial Innovations Group plc (AIM: IVO), the technology commercialisation andinvestment company, announces that it has licensed to StormBio Inc, a USbiopharmaceutical company, patents and know-how for development of a noveltherapy for treatment of life-threatening influenza and other inflammatorydiseases. This agreement will permit StormBio to develop a new class of therapeutics,directed at saving lives and reducing disability from flu and other inflammatorydiseases. The StormBio therapeutic will differ from current influenza treatments bytargeting only an over-reaction of the inflammatory process, without shuttingdown the body's immune response. The October, 2006 issue of Nature Medicine, awidely respected journal, reported that excessive inflammatory response can be aprime cause of death and disability from influenza A (H5N1) infection, alsoknown as Avian Flu. Steve Brozak, Chairman and CEO of StormBio said "Our novel approach to treating life-threatening influenza could save largenumbers of lives during a severe influenza pandemic." He added, "This newapproach to controlling the inflammatory process, pioneered by Professor TracyHussell, at Imperial College, could lead to a wide range of applications in thefight against severely disabling and life-threatening diseases." Susan Searle, CEO of Imperial Innovations said, "Steve Brozak and the StormBio team, based in the USA, provide experiencedpartners for the development and application for our technology. We are pleasedto be working with them." -Ends- For more information contact: Imperial InnovationsSusan Searle, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)20 7594 6591Lucy Ahfong, Marketing Communications Executive +44 (0)20 7594 6644 M:Communications +44 (0)20 7153 1539Patrick d'Ancona / Eleanor Williamson JP Morgan Cazenove +44 (0)20 7588 2828 Steve Baldwin StormBio +1 (908) 518 7613 Henry Bassman hbassman@stormbio.com Notes to Editors About Imperial Innovations Imperial Innovations is one of the UK's leading technology transfer andcommercialisation companies. The company was founded in 1986 and its ordinaryshares admitted to trading on the AIM Market of London Stock Exchange plc inJuly 2006, raising £26 million. The company's integrated approach encompassesthe identification of ideas, protection of intellectual property, developmentand licensing of technology and formation, incubation and investment intechnology businesses. A wide range of technologies are commercialised withinthe areas of healthcare, energy, environment and emerging technology trends. Based at Imperial College London, the company has established equity holdings in66 technology businesses and has completed 90 commercial agreements. ImperialInnovations also commercialises technologies originating from outside ImperialCollege through incubation contracts with the Carbon Trust and WRAP and hasrelationships with a number of multinational corporations including BAE Systems. Imperial Innovations has invested in a range of spin-out companies, includingThe Acrobot Company Limited, Advanced Tissue Therapies Limited, Cardiak Limited,Circassia Holdings Limited, deltaDOT Limited, Equinox Pharma Limited, FutureWaves PTE Limited, HeliSwirl Technologies Limited, InforSense Limited, LontraLimited, Midaz Lasers Limited, NanoBioDesign Limited, Nexeon Limited, NovaTheraLimited, Thiakis Limited and Veryan Medical Limited. Imperial Innovations currently holds shares in four technology businesses nowlisted on AIM including the fuel cell company, Ceres Power plc. www.imperialinnovations.co.uk About Storm Bio, Inc. Storm Bio is a biopharmaceutical company that in-licenses and developsinnovative anti-inflammatory therapies to treat a wide range of medicalconditions. The first application for StormBio's technology is treatment oflife-threatening influenza. Subsequent applications include other severe acuteinflammatory conditions and eventually chronic inflammatory conditions. http://www.stormbio.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange