Georgenow

'Mornin' George,

I see that you are still hanging out for that 160 entry.

Overnight, the company has put out a press release that explains in detail the importance of the ASX announcement made yesterday. Assuming that the press pick it up then I would think that the share price may have a nice run over the next week.

Here's the press release in full.

2nd October 2002 - Cellestis and Statens Serum Institut Announce Exclusive License Agreement For Improved TB Diagnosis



CELLESTIS AND STATENS SERUM INSTITUT ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR IMPROVED TB DIAGNOSIS



Cellestis Limited (ASX - CST) and Statens Serum Institut (SSI) have today signed an agreement that signals a new era in tuberculosis (TB) testing and diagnosis. The agreement gives Cellestis exclusive rights to use the tuberculosis specific proteins developed by SSI in Cellestis’ QuantiFERON technology.



In most parts of the world, the population are routinely immunised against TB using the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG vaccine). The majority of the individuals who are BCG vaccinated, but who are not TB infected, will give a positive response to existing tests for TB, such as the classical tuberculin skin test (Mantoux). Clinical trials have shown that Cellestis’ new TB test incorporating SSI’s TB-specific proteins will overcome this problem by detecting only those individuals with true TB infection. The new test furthermore allows a very early detection of ongoing infection long before the individual develops symptoms of TB and become contagious.



The new test based on the QuantiFERON technology will, for the first time, allow the detection of TB regardless of BCG vaccination status, thereby providing the basis for a new and effective approach to the control of TB.



“We have been working together for more than a year to develop this project and already have a number of clinical trials under way based on SSI’s TB specific proteins,” said Dr. Tony Radford, Managing Director of Cellestis. The rights to the SSI reagent cover most of the proteins known to be specific to TB and include patent coverage in major markets and countries beyond 2015. In trials, these proteins have enhanced the specificity of our QuantiFERON system for TB to almost 100 per cent.”





This advance has major implications for Japan, Asia and much of Europe where BCG vaccination is widespread, as well as for Australia, for which nearly 50% of new TB cases are due to immigration from these regions. In Japan alone, there are more than 20 million TB screening tests per annum. The test also allows the discrimination of TB and disease due to other closely related bacteria, which especially in the USA impose a significant diagnostic problem.

“This expands our potential market, and extends our patent position in TB testing. We knew that BCG reactions were the major issue for accurate detection of TB. By overcoming them, our simple, new test will raise the standard in TB diagnosis,” said Dr. Radford.



Dr Peter Andersen, Head of TB research at SSI added, “Our work with Cellestis enables us to combine the advantages of our TB-specific proteins with QuantiFERON technology to create the simplest and easiest way to detect TB infection”.



Further information

Cellestis Limited

Cellestis is a Melbourne-based Australian biotechnology company, established in November 2000 to commercialise QuantiFERON technology for diagnosing TB and other diseases worldwide. QuantiFERON-TB tests for the presence or absence of a protein (gamma-interferon) produced by a patient’s white blood cells after stimulation with a TB protein. If gamma interferon is present after stimulation, then the patient has TB.





Cellestis listed on the Australian Stock Exchange through a public offer in April 2001. Cellestis received approval in November 2001 from the US Food and Drug Administration for its test for human TB (QuantiFERON-TB), a new test for detecting early TB infection. For more information, visit www.cellestis.com.





Statens Serum Institut

Statens Serum Institut (SSI) is a Danish government owned company engaged in the prevention and control of infectious disease and congenital disorders. SSI is a manufacturer of vaccines and other biological products, approved by the US FDA, the European regulatory authorities and WHO. The TB research group at SSI is world leading and has made important contribution to the understanding of TB infection and immunity. This research has recently resulted in improved TB diagnostic tools as well as a new TB vaccine, which will enter clinical trials next year. For more information, visit www.ssi.dk



Bacillus Calmette-Guérin
BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) is a vaccine based on a bacteria isolated from cattle which is closely related to the TB organism that infects humans. It does not cause disease, because it has lost some genes that were no longer required for growth under laboratory conditions.



BCG is the most widely used vaccine in the world. Vaccination with BCG effectively prevents TB in young children but is less effective in adults. WHO reports for year 2000 that the worldwide coverage for BCG vaccine is over 80 %. Most countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and South America have implemented BCG in the national vaccination programmes, as have some Western European countries like UK, Ireland, Norway and Finland. In Australia and the USA vaccination has been rare, as priority has been given to avoid interference with TB testing.





Vaccination with BCG triggers an immune response with many similarities to TB infection, but the new test addresses the important differences between vaccination and disease. Some genes present in the TB bacteria coding for proteins that stimulate a strong immune reaction has been lost from the laboratory-grown BCG. Identification of these proteins has enabled SSI to create a reagent with high specificity for the TB infection



Market Implications
Japan has declared TB a national emergency. Japan has near universal BCG vaccination and performs over 20 million screening tests for TB every year. The existing Mantoux skin test for TB is unable to distinguish new TB infection from a positive response due to BCG vaccination. Many other countries suffer the same diagnostic problems as Japan. And much of the TB infection in Europe, the US and Australia is associated with immigrants from countries with high TB rates where BCG vaccination is common.






For Further Information please contact :

Cellestis - Rebecca Christie on 03 9866 4722 or 0417 382 391

Statens Serum Institut - Pia Lading (Vaccine Division Director) on +45 3268 3565 or [email protected]