BresaGen wins NIH deal

A second Australian company has won the right to provide embryonic stem cell lines to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States.

South Australian based company BresaGen today revealed it had signed a research agreement with the biomedical behemoth.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) is the US government's first stem cell agreement with an international company that has a subsidiary in the States.

Although based in Adelaide, BresaGen also has an office in Athens, Georgia. Chief executive and president Dr John Smeaton describes the agreement as an important one for his company.

"It allows us to distribute our cell lines widely within the stem cell research community and build valuable relationships with researchers who are pioneering this exciting new field of medical endeavour," Smeaton said.

"We are confident that these research relationships will, in the future, lead to commercial opportunities and products for BresaGen to bring to market."

Under the agreement US researchers will have access to BresaGen's four existing stem cell lines, which meet criteria outlined in an edict by President George Bush last August.

Under these guidelines, federally funded researchers could only use cells already produced outside the US, as long as they neither destroyed the embryos themselves nor used cells produced after the release of Bush's guidelines.

The new rules put BresaGen in prime candidate position for the sourcing deal. The deal means that US scientists will have access to these cell lines to explore new areas of research.

The agreement permits NIH scientists to freely publish the results of their research, with the institute retaining ownership of new intellectual property arising from their work with the cell lines.

In return, BresaGen will retain commercial rights to its materials and will receive a fee to cover its handling and distribution expenses in supplying the cell lines.

The company also agreed to make the cell lines available for use by non-profit institutions that receive NIH grants.

The NIH agreement is the second for an Australian company, with Melbourne's ES Cell International entering a similar deal a fortnight earlier.

In a statement following the latest antipodean agreement, acting NIH director Dr Ruth Kirschstein said the provision of extra stem cell lines would maximise scientists' research capabilities.

"We welcome these collaborative efforts because they provide the framework for future progress in this important scientific area," Kirschstein said.

At the time of writing, BresaGen's shares had risen 3 per cent, or 30 cents, to 98 cents.