Vax-Immune Acquires Exclusive Worldwide Rights to Baylor’s Ureaplasma Technology

HOUSTON - Nov. 6, 2014 - PRLog -- Baylor College of Medicine (http://www.bcm.edu) and Vax-Immune (http://www.vaximmune.com), LLC have entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement to enable commercial development of these key technologies for the rapid diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Ureaplasma disease.

Ureaplasma, one of the smallest bacteria known, often infects the infant via the mother, where it is present in 40 to 80% of all pregnancies. In preterm infants it causes pneumonia at birth and leads to chronic lung disease and death. Currently there is no way to diagnose Ureaplasma infection quickly. With a rapid diagnosis, antibiotic treatment could begin in the first few days of life and lead to a 20 to 30% reduction in chronic lung disease in these babies.

Vax-Immune’s point-of-care diagnostic kit is poised to dramatically improve diagnosis and treatment of Ureaplasma infection.  By quickly and accurately identifying the infection, doctors can initiate the correct treatment immediately, thus avoiding a lengthy expensive diagnostic process, treatment delays, and thus prevention of undue suffering from chronic conditions.  The potential saving in hospital stays in preterm babies treated for Ureaplasma pneumonia is over $3 billion in the United States alone.

Under the agreement, Vax-Immune obtained the right to commercialize technologies discovered by Leonard E. Weisman MD (http://www.vaximmune.com/management-team.html), Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Weisman is also founder, and Chief Technology Officer at Vax-immune. His discovery of a unique antibody that binds and directly kills all tested strains of Ureaplasma forms the basis of Vax-Immune’s rapid diagnostic kit, neutralizing antibody treatment and vaccine.

Joaquin Altenberg, Chief Executive Office (http://www.vaximmune.com/management-team.html)r of Vax-Immune stated: "Vax-Immune is dedicated to improving patient care through the development of biologics for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infection. Dr. Weisman’s discoveries represent a platform of technologies that we are developing to diagnosis, treat and prevent Ureaplasma infection. We are pleased to be partnered with a leading medical institution like Baylor College of Medicine. Vax-Immune is grateful for Baylor College of Medicine’s continued support and collaboration and we look forward to bringing our first product - the rapid diagnostic, to market."

Michael Dilling, Ph.D., Director of the Baylor Licensing Group at Baylor College of Medicine, stated: “Vax-Immune was the obvious choice for a licensing partner based on Dr. Weisman’s knowledge, drive to develop and commercialize the technology, and assembly of a committed, focused management team.”

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ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, is the only private medical school in the Greater Southwest, is recognized as a premier academic health science center and is known for excellence in education, research and patient care.  For 2015, U.S. News & World Report ranked Baylor College of Medicine as one of the top 25 medical schools for research.  Located in the Texas Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine has affiliations with seven teaching hospitals, each known for medical excellence, and is co-owner of CHI St. Luke’s Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. The college has total research support of $356 million, with $280 million from federal sources, and more than 90 research and patient-care centers and units.  The Baylor Licensing Group, BCM’s unit responsible for transferring research discoveries to business and venture partners, signs an average of over forty new agreements with business partners annually.  These activities have also led to the launch of five start-up companies since 2010.  More on the Baylor Licensing Group, including a list of technologies currently available for licensing, can be found at https://www.bcm.edu/research/office-of-research/baylor-licensing-group.

ABOUT VAX-IMMUNE LLC

         Vax-Immune, based in Houston, Texas is led by a team of physicians, research scientists, business and financial leaders, marketing professionals and entrepreneurs experienced in medical product development and commercialization.   Vax-Immune has patents pending for their innovative solutions to rapidly diagnose, treat, and prevent Ureaplasma infection.  For more information, they can be contacted at info@vaximmune.com, or you can learn about Vax-Immune at http://www.vaximmune.com.