We hereby announce that a patent has been granted for a technology to produce high-affinity antibodies named GANP® Mouse Technology (hereinafter referred to as “the Technology”) by the European Patent Office (Patent No.: EP1559318). This is a fundamental technology of TRANS GENIC INC. (headquartered in Kumamoto, Japan, CEO: Ken-ichi Yamamura, hereinafter referred to as “we”).

This basic patent widely covers the Technology discovered by Dr. Nobuo Sakaguchi, professor of Department of Immunology, Kumamoto University School of Medicine. A part of patent applications regarding the Technology has been approved in China and a patent for the Technology has been granted in Australia.

We use the Technology to produce high-affinity and high-specificity antibodies and some of them are sold as research reagents. We also conduct licensing business of the Technology with a view to developing diagnostic reagents.

We and National Cancer Center have been conducting a joint research project since January 2009 to discover new tumor markers by combining cyclopaedic proteome analysis and the Technology for the purpose of accelerating development of new diagnostic antibodies.

We will continuously intend to acquire intellectual properties of the Technology at home and abroad to make it contribute to our business, while carrying out R&D and business activities to discover innovative diagnostic and therapeutic antibodies by using GANP® mouse Technology.

The effects of this announcement on our business performance are as yet unknown, but we will make an announcement when it starts to have a significant impact on our business performance.

Reference:

GANP® Mouse Technology
This is our unique technology to produce high-affinity and high-specificity antibodies using genetically engineered mice named "GANP® mice". We regard the technology as a fundamental technology in our antibody-related technological platforms and use it to promote various businesses, such as developing our original products and granting its license to pharmaceutical companies and diagnostic reagent manufacturers to gain profits from its licensing fees and product royalties.

- What is GANP (Germinal Center Associated Nuclear Protein)?
It is a gene expressed in B-cells which produce antibodies.
It was discovered by Dr. Nobuo Sakaguchi of Kumamoto University.

- What is a GANP® mouse?
It is a mouse transfected with GANP gene.

Sakaguchi N. et al., J Immunol. 2005 Apr 15; 174(8):4485-94.