Protein Sciences Corporation,  a vaccine development and protein production company, and a leading Mexican pharmaceutical company, Laboratorios Liomont have signed a licencing agreement that grants Liomont an exclusive license to Flublok (seasonal) and Panblok (pandemic) influenza vaccines for the Mexico market and, potentially, other Latin American countries.  

Under the terms of the agreement, Liomont will seek regulatory approval for Flublok in Mexico and initially sell Flublok manufactured by Protein Sciences.  Liomont has also obtained rights to manufacture Flublok and Panblok in Mexico.  Protein Sciences is entitled to significant license and milestone payments and double-digit royalties on sales.

"The revolutionary nature and broad technology platform behind Flublok and Panblok afford these vaccines important advantages over other vaccines on the market - both can be made safely, accurately and much faster than other vaccines," said Alfredo Rimoch, chief executive officer, of Liomont. "Flublok and Panblok complement our pipeline as we look into building a solid biotech portfolio which we can market in Latin America by 2015. Most importantly, the modern recombinant technology behind the products will allow us to rapidly supply the Mexican market with an effective pandemic influenza vaccine if and when the need arises."

Dan Adams, executive chairman and Global Head of Business Development for Protein Sciences said, "This partnership with Liomont will make Flublok broadly available to our Southern neighbours as Liomont is a growing company with an outstanding track record in marketing branded products in Mexico."  He added, "Flublok represents a breakthrough in vaccine technology, and we will continue to work with partners like Liomont to make the vaccine and our technology available globally."

Flublok, the world's first recombinant protein-based vaccine for the prevention of seasonal influenza disease, was approved by FDA in January 2013.  Flublok is the only flu vaccine made in a 100per cent egg-free system using modern cell culture technology, making it unnecessary to use an infectious influenza virus or antibiotics in manufacturing.  Flublok is highly purified and does not contain any preservatives (e.g., thimerosal, a mercury derivative), egg proteins, gelatin or latex.  In addition, Flublok is triple the strength of conventional influenza vaccines.  Flublok is a perfect copy of the virus coat and is not subject to the egg-adapted mutations associated with low vaccine effectiveness (see Skowronski et al. (2014) PLOS ONE 9(3), e92153).  Protein Sciences has filed for FDA approval of Flublok for ages 50 and above and expects to receive approval in time for the 2014/15 influenza season.

Protein Sciences is a vaccine development and protein production company that is dedicated to saving lives and improving health through the creation of innovative vaccines and biopharmaceuticals.    

Liomont is one of the 5 largest Mexican pharmaceutical companies having achieved a solid sustained growth for the past 20 years. Liomont is constantly looking for novel and promising products and technologies for the Mexican and Latin American markets.