FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 5, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Tekron, Inc. (OTCBB:TKRN) has inked an agreement with Biovirus, a privately held biotechnology company that has developed both a prophylactic vaccine and a therapeutic treatment for Herpes Simplex I and II, the primary causative agents for recurring facial and genital lesions said Dr. James Insell, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer for Tekron.
Biovirus of Reno, Nevada, has agreed to sell to Tekron, a 25% minority interest for $3 million as a private placement, with the possibility of purchasing a further interest. Further, the two companies will participate in a 50/50 joint venture to form a Canadian subsidiary of Biovirus, which will rapidly move forward the veterinarial applications. Tekron will also have the exclusive worldwide license for veterinarial products, which it intends on marketing worldwide. The commercial application of the vaccines in veterinary medicine could be brought to fruition as early as spring 2005. The targeted veterinarial market is evaluated at close to $150 Million per annum. The market for a herpes simplex treatment is in excess of $300 Million per annum.
Biovirus over the past 10 years has developed and patented the research discoveries of Dr. Daniel Golubev, renowned Russian virologist and former chair of the Department of Virology at Leningrad State University. Dr. Golubev, while in Russia, discovered the Influenza A virus, developed its vaccine, discovered a correlation between the herpetic virus CMV and atherosclerosis and produced along with Alex Chaihorsky, President and CEO of Biovirus, a novel patented peptide vaccine towards Herpes Simplex type I and II. The estimated market for this product is approximately $300 Million per annum.
Eighty per cent of the world's population has been exposed to one or more types of Herpes viruses, half of which are infected by Herpes simplex. The explosive growth (20 times) of Herpes infections in North America and Europe from 1970 to 1999 has created a serious medical problem that presently remains incurable. Presently, there is not even a treatment for Herpes infections except for antiviral medications, like Valtrex, which shorten the duration of infection.
Luigi Brun, Chairman and President of Tekron, said, "I am extremely pleased that Dr. Insell has brought these medical breakthroughs to Tekron and I look forward to his scientific leadership and collaboration with Alex Chaihorsky and Dr. Golubev moving forward this exciting technology that Biovirus has developed over the past decade."
Dr. Insell stated, "This is a bioinformatic technology platform that can quite possibly generate new vaccines against many other viral infections, like West Nile Virus, SARS, and smallpox. I am excited about Tekron funding this very exciting and new technology. I am confident, given the proper resources, we can move this technology forward rapidly in the area of veterinarial applications."
About Biovirus:
Biovirus Research Corporation is a privately held biopharmaceutical corporation that uses bioinformatics (computational genomics), functional genomics (gene function) and immunology for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of herpes virus infections and their associated diseases. The company has used its proprietary bioinformatic platform to build a library of novel anti-herpetic peptide constructs that are the active components of several preventative and therapeutic vaccines.
About Tekron:
Tekron Inc. is a holding company acquiring interests in high technology, medical and environmental biotechnology companies.
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