Vigene Biosciences announces partnership with Virovek to make high yield cGMP AAV production technology accessible and affordable.

ROCKVILLE, Md. Vigene Biosciences, Inc. (Vigene), a leading biotechnology company for viral vector production and development, announced today that the company is partnering with Virovek to utilize its proprietary AAV Production Technology, BAC-to-AAV, in AAV GMP productions. This technology utilizes the baculovirus expression system to produce AAV vectors in insect cells under serum-free condition. AAV produced from BAC-to-AAV has been proven to infect and transduce a myriad of mammalian cells in vivo and in vitro. “We are pleased to have this technology for our AAV GMP productions ” stated Dr. Zairen Sun, Vigene’s CEO, ” BAC-to-AAV will enable Vigene to generate of up to 1E+17 viruses in a single production run. With the exclusive license to Vigene for cGMP manufacturing, the customer does not need to pay the license fee for their phase I, II and III clinical trials. Combined with high titer, scalable productions, this is a significant saving for our clients, making gene therapy more affordable. “Vigene is a perfect partner to make Virovek’s Bac-to-AAV technology accessible to all gene therapy companies. They have great manufacturing track record, new and large facilities, qualified and well trained PD and cGMP team, and a FDA/EMA compliant QA system for cGMP production. Virovek’s technology, with Vigene’s partnership, can potentially help many patients access clinical AAV products. We are happy to announce that we waive the license fees for phase 1, 2, 3 clinical trials and all milestones associated if manufactured with Vigene. We are excited about the outcome of the partnership. “. Added Dr. Haifeng Chen, the CEO of Virovek.

About Vigene Biosciences

Vigene Biosciences, Inc is a leader in viral vector based gene delivery for both life science research, gene therapy and cell therapy purposes. Headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, Vigene offers AAV, lentivirus and adenovirus based products and custom services. Vigene offers FDA and EMA compliant cGMP production for lentivirus, adenovirus and AAV with proven technologies and track records.

About Virovek

Virovek Inc. is a world leader in large-scale research/GLP-grade AAV manufacturing. Located in Hayward, California, Virovek provides full services from construct design, gene cloning and AAV production that is purified and sterilized, ready for animal studies, at scales from 1e+13vg to 1e+17vg. Virovek’s proprietary AAV production technology is available for non-exclusive licensing for therapeutic development purposes. virovek.com

Vigene Contact Information:

Jeffrey Hung, Ph.D. Chief Commercial Officer Vigene Biosciences 301-251-6638 [email protected]

Virovek Contact Information:

Haifeng Chen, Ph.D. Chief Executive Officer Virovek 510-887-7121 [email protected]