Strong alliance to fight fungal infections

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Wien (euro adhoc) - Vienna (Austria), April 21, 2008 - Intercell AG (VSE: ICLL)
today announced that the joint project to develop protective treatments against
fungal infections was awarded an EU-grant. Intercell is coordinating a European
consortium of three academic and commercial partners within the "CanVac"
project. The project aims at developing a vaccine and/or a monoclonal
antibody-based therapy against infections caused by the pathogenic fungus
Candida albicans.

CanVac was one of 41 selected projects among 125 applications submitted for the
first two EuroTransBio transnational calls of the European Commission and is
eligible to receive funds of EUR 1.5 m. The project is scheduled to run for
three years and builds on the expertise of leading scientists and biotech
companies in Austria and Germany.

Together with the Christian Doppler Research Association (CDG), Intercell AG is
also supporting the newly established Christian Doppler Laboratory (CDL) in
Infection Biology "PathoFUN". PathoFUN is located at the Max F. Perutz
Laboratories, a joint venture of the University of Vienna and the Medical
University of Vienna, Campus Vienna Biocenter. The CDL is headed by the renowned
expert in fungal pathogenesis, Prof. Karl Kuchler. PathoFunwill focus on genomic
approaches to understand fungal virulence and on developing vaccines and/or
monoclonal antibody-based therapies against infections caused by fungal
pathogens such as Candida and Aspergillus species.

"Our dramatic progress in evolving our AIP technology (antigen identification
program) has made it now possible to identify disease-relevant and protective
antigens from much more complex pathogens than bacteria, such as fungi.
Alongside with our outstanding partners in the EC consortium, and within the new
Christian Doppler Laboratory on Infection Biology, I am confident that we have
built an excellent franchise which will enable us to quickly find relevant
targets leading to novel antibody treatments and vaccines in an arena where
development of antifungal drugs only reluctantly move forward", states Alexander
von Gabain, Intercell´s Chief Scientific Officer.

Importantly, antifungal treatments are often hampered by resistant strains, as
well as by severe side effects while not being able to prevent recurrent
infections in a significant number of patients. CanVac was initiated by
Intercell AG and its partners to systematically identify antigens suitable for
the development of monoclonal antibodies or vaccines. CanVac shall be applying
expertise and technologies ranging from full genome sequencing and genome-wide
antigen identification to infectious disease models suitable to evaluate
candidate antigens.

At present, no approved vaccines exist to prevent Candidiasis or Aspergillosis
in humans. Since antifungal drug resistance is emerging rapidly, mortality rates
and the impairment in the quality of life of patients can only be overcome by
new strategies to diagnose, prevent or treat severe systemic fungal disease. The
establishment of the CDL will greatly support Intercell AG in its efforts to
develop vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for the prevention and treatment of
infectious diseases. The CDL will benefit from the network of academic and
industrial partners at the Campus Vienna Biocenter, including the Max F. Perutz
Laboratories, the CDL Proteomics and Intercell AG.

About Candidiasis

Candidiasis, also know as "yeast infection", is very common and usually happens
when a weak immune system allows commensal Candida species to overgrow the
normal body flora. Since no vaccines exist to prevent Candidiasis and antifungal
drug resistances hamper therapy, new strategies are needed which allow broad
protection or treatment in the global fight against this serious medical
condition.
C. albicans is normally a harmless commensal in most healthy people, but it can
cause both non-severe infections and life-threatening systemic candidiasis with
high mortality rates. In particular, Candida species are the leading cause of
fungemias worldwide and account for one of the leading causes of nosocomial
blood stream infections.

Partners of Intercell AG´s fungal franchise:

» Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Austria (http://www.mfpl.ac.at)
» GATC Biotech, Germany (http://www.gatc-biotech.com)
» Christian Doppler Gesellschaft (http://www.cdg.ac.at)
» CDL at the Medical University of Vienna (http://www.meduniwien.ac.at)

Further inquiry note:
Intercell AG
Lucia Malfent
Head of Communications
Tel. +43 1 20620-303
[email protected]

end of announcement euro adhoc
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emitter: Intercell AG
Campus Vienna Biocenter 6
A-1030 Wien
phone: +43 1 20620-0
FAX: +43 1 20620-800
mail: [email protected]
WWW: www.intercell.com
sector: Biotechnology
ISIN: AT0000612601
indexes:
stockmarkets: official market: Wiener Börse AG
language: English

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