EANS-Adhoc: Intercell acquires antibody technology platform to further exploit its capabilities to combat infectious diseases

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06.05.2010

Vienna (Austria), May 6, 2010 - Intercell AG (VSE: ICLL) today announced that it
has signed an agreement with Cytos Biotechnology Ltd. to acquire Cytos' platform
technology for monoclonal antibody discovery. The technology is based on
expression cloning of monoclonal antibodies from human B-cells and enables the
identification of anti-infective antibodies to prevent and treat infectious
diseases.

Under the agreed terms Intercell will pay EUR 15 million to Cytos. Intercell
will own certain unpartnered monoclonal antibody assets, including promising
pre-clinical anti-infective antibody candidates discovered by Cytos. The key
scientists, who have very successfully developed the technology at Cytos, will
be employed by Intercell. The antibody technology complements Intercell's
technology platforms and opens novel medically and commercially relevant
applications for Intercell's Antigen Identification Program (AIP®). The AIP® has
delivered promising vaccine candidates against Staphylococcus aureus (Phase
II/III) and Pneumococcus (Phase I) infections, among others, and has also been
the basis for partnerships in the antibody field with Merck & Co. and Kyowa
Hakko Kirin in these indications, respectively.

In its future antibody discovery activities Intercell will focus on medically
and commercially attractive AIP® derived disease targets including Group B
Streptococcus and bacteria involved in hospital acquired infections.

"Cytos' outstanding antibody technology complements our innovative R&D
technology platform and enables pipeline progression within our existing
portfolio", stated Gerd Zettlmeissl, Chief Executive Officer of Intercell.

Wolfgang Renner, CEO of Cytos, commented: "Intercell, as a leading
anti-infective company, is ideally positioned through its Antigen Identification
Program (AIP®), to capture the full value of our monoclonal antibody discovery
platform. We are very glad that our technology will support Intercell in
discovering important new monoclonal antibodies to combat infectious diseases."

Monoclonal antibodies form one of the fastest growing segments of the
pharmaceutical industry. The global monoclonal antibodies market was valued at
USD 27.4bn in 2008, indicating a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of almost
30% between 2000 and 2008.1

"Antibodies can be extremely effective for the prevention and treatment of
infectious diseases. For example, the increasing rate of antibiotic resistance
among certain types of nosocomial pathogens makes it extremely difficult to
control hospital acquired infectious diseases in critical situations.
Anti-infective antibodies, well known in the medical arena before the advent of
antibiotic treatments, have experienced a comeback and monoclonal antibody
products are expected to contribute to the control of severe infections that
otherwise might be untreatable in the future", explained Eszter Nagy, Senior
Vice President Research at Intercell.

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1 http://www.marketresearch.com/product/display.asp?productid=2515126

Further inquiry note:
Intercell AG
Lucia Malfent
Vice President, Global Head Corporate Communications
Tel. +43 1 20620-1303
[email protected]
end of announcement euro adhoc
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issuer:   Intercell AG
          Campus Vienna Biocenter  3
          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: ATX Prime, ATX
stockmarkets: official market: Wien
language: English

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