This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR).
EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc
("EKF", the "Company")
Manufacturing partnership with Oragenics, Inc.
EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc (AIM: EKF), the AIM listed point-of-care business, announces that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Oragenics, Inc. (NYSE American: OGEN), a Florida-based biopharmaceutical company, for the manufacturing of Oragenics' lantibiotic bulk drug substances in the United States.
Oragenics is developing a pipeline of novel therapeutics to address the rise in drug-resistant infectious diseases as well as oral mucositis. Under the collaboration agreement, EKF Diagnostics will manufacture compounds intended for preclinical and early stage clinical trials. Manufacturing will be completed at EKF's Elkhart enzyme production facility in Indiana, USA.
It is estimated that the partnership should generate multi-million dollars in revenues to EKF Diagnostics over the duration of the manufacturing agreement.
Julian Baines, CEO of EKF commented: "We are delighted to partner with Oragenics in the development of lantibiotics. EKF has invested heavily in the Elkhart facility and we are now in a position to attract high quality pharmaceutical partners such as Oragenics."
Dr. Alan Joslyn, CEO and President of Oragenics added: "We are excited to partner with EKF Diagnostics for the manufacturing of our novel lantibiotics in the United States. We believe this agreement will enable Oragenics to continue development of our early stage lantibiotic programs, which potentially will be able to address multi-drug resistant infections such as C. difficile."
Enquiries:
EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc |
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Christopher Mills, Non-Executive Chairman |
Tel: 029 2071 0570 |
Julian Baines, CEO |
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Richard Evans, FD & COO |
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N+1 Singer (Nomad & Broker) |
Tel: 020 7496 3000 |
Aubrey Powell / Shaun Dobson |
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Walbrook PR Limited |
Tel: 020 7933 8780 or ekf@walbrookpr.com |
Paul McManus / Lianne Cawthorne |
Mob: 07980 541 893 / 07584 391 303 |
About Oragenics, Inc.
We are focused on becoming a leader in novel antibiotics against infectious disease and on developing effective treatments for oral mucositis. Oragenics, Inc. has established two exclusive worldwide channel collaborations with Intrexon Corporation and its subsidiaries. The collaboration allows Oragenics to accelerate the development of much needed new antibiotics that can work against resistant strains of bacteria and the development of biotherapeutics for oral mucositis and other diseases and conditions of the oral cavity, throat, and esophagus.
For more information about Oragenics, please visit www.oragenics.com.
About EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc www.ekfdiagnostics.com
EKF is a leading point-of-care diagnostics and central laboratory assay manufacturer with an estimated 80,000 hemoglobin, hematocrit, HbA1c, glucose and lactate analyzers in regular use across more than 100 countries. EKF specializes in developing tests for use in anemia and diabetes diagnosis and management, as well as providing a portfolio of reagents for use in clinical chemistry analyzers.