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CORPORATE STRATEGY
We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of proprietary and biosimilar recombinant therapeutic proteins based on our proprietary ProCellEx™ protein expression system. Using our ProCellEx™ system we are developing a pipeline of proprietary and biosimilar recombinant therapeutic proteins based on our proprietary plant cell-based expression technology that target large, established pharmaceutical markets and that rely upon known biological mechanisms of action. Our initial commercial focus has been on complex therapeutic proteins, including proteins for the treatment of genetic disorders, such as Gaucher disease and Fabry disease. We believe our ProCellEx™ protein expression system will enable us to develop proprietary and biosimilar recombinant proteins that are therapeutically equivalent or superior to existing recombinant proteins currently marketed for the same indications. Because we are targeting biologically equivalent versions of highly active, well-tolerated and commercially successful therapeutic proteins, we believe our development process is associated with relatively less risk compared to other biopharmaceutical development processes for novel therapeutic proteins. Our goal is to become a leading fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of proprietary and biosimilar recombinant therapeutic proteins. To that end, we are leveraging our proprietary ProCellEx™ protein expression system to develop a pipeline of proprietary and biosimilar recombinant therapeutic proteins. In addition to the product candidates that we are developing internally, we have entered into agreements for additional compounds with academic institutions, including a licensing agreement with the technology transfer arm of Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science and an agreement with the technology transfer arm of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In addition, we are collaborating with other pharmaceutical companies to develop therapeutic proteins that can benefit from the significant cost, intellectual property and other competitive advantages of our ProCellEx™ protein expression system. We entered into an agreement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in September 2006 under which we have agreed to collaborate on the research and development of two proteins to be developed using our ProCellEx™ protein expression system. We also continuously review and consider additional development and commercialization alliances with other pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions. |