Ventria Bioscience acquires Meristem Therapeutics' recombinant lactoferrin IP

Ventria Bioscience is acquiring exclusive ownership rights to intellectual property relating to Meristem Therapeutics' recombinant human lactoferrin.

Ventria Bioscience is to acquire intellectual property relating to recombinant lactoferrin developed by French biotechnology company Meristem Therapeutics.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ventria Bioscience will obtain exclusive royalty-free ownership rights for specific patents in the US, France and Canada in exchange for a one-off payment.

The agreement includes patents relating to recombinant human lactoferrin, which is the active ingredient in Ventria Bioscience's lead drug candidate VEN100.

VEN100 is currently being developed as a preventive treatment for antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in high-risk adults.

Scott Deeter, president and chief executive officer of Ventria Bioscience, said: "The patents acquired today cover important components of our product pipeline.

"The decision to purchase this intellectual property is significant because it removes the encumbrance of ongoing royalty and milestone payments, thereby enhancing the future economics of our products that use recombinant human lactoferrin."

Ventria Bioscience has solved the problem of producing commercial-scale yields of recombinant human lactoferrin using its proprietary ExpressTec technology platform.