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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Ken Schoppmann
Executive Director, Licensing Executives Society (USA and Canada), Inc.
703-299-8212
schoppk@les.org
Jake Schaible
Co-Chair, LES Deals of Distinction Award Selection Committee
317 679 4579 cell
jjschaible@san.rr.com
Al Rickard
Public Relations
(703) 402-9713
arickard@associationvision.com
Licensing Executives Society Announces 2008 Deals of Distinction™ Awards
ORLANDO, FL, OCTOBER 22, 2008 – Intellectual property (IP) such as patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets are the fundamental drivers of innovation in our knowledge-based economy. Each year, major IP deals that transfer the rights to IP between companies help drive innovation and ensure that new products continue to reach businesses and consumers.
To highlight great examples of these deals, the Licensing Executives Society (USA and Canada), Inc. (LES) today presented its Deals of DistinctionTM Awards to winners in five industry sectors. The awards were given at the LES Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.
"Unlike many of the recent deals on Wall Street, that were made out of desperation to save failing institutions that engaged, perhaps too much, in ‘creative' financial innovation, these deals represent successful advancement of partnerships to gain technical knowledge, products in development, or tangible solutions to business needs," said Jake Schaible, Chair of the Deals of Distinction Award Committee. "Licensing deals such as these hold the promise for the future introduction of new products and services and, as such, are our best hope for our global economy to grow and recover."
The 2008 LES Deals of Distinction Awards Winners are:
Chemicals, Energy, Environment, and Materials Sector:
SABIC Acquisition of GE Plastics
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), a global supplier of plastic resins used in a range of industries, acquired GE Plastics for a purchase price of $11.8 billion. GE Plastics selected SABIC as the purchaser because of SABIC's strong capital position and continued interest in both growing the business globally and its history of retaining existing management teams for companies that it acquires.
With SABIC's low cost raw material position in basic petrochemicals and the GE Plastics market position and technology base, the new company is assured of being globally competitive in the specialty plastics markets for electronics. The GE Plastics product line also complemented existing SABIC products, and provides SABIC with a major global and well positioned product line. SABIC has strong roots as a leading chemical company based in the Middle East with continued expansion in the United States. The new company formed as a result of the acquisition is called SABIC Innovative Plastics, a wholly owned subsidiary of SABIC.
"This global deal, involving a natural extension of a basic building blocks producer into higher value downstream derivatives already well established in the marketplace and the enhancement of free capital for GE's other high growth ventures, represents a win-win for both companies," says Andrea Cohen, Co-Chair of the Chemicals, Energy, Environment, and Materials Sector.
Consumer Product Sector and High Technology Sector:
Apple-AT&T for the iPhone-Cingular Wireless Service Provider Deal
Apple® and Cingular were honored for a deal that established Cingular as Apple's exclusive U.S. carrier partner for Apple's iPhone. Through the multi-year partnership, Apple and Cingular are working together to provide innovative new features to mobile phone users, such as iPhone's pioneering and unique Visual Voicemail, a first on any mobile phone in the world.
"Through this unique co-development and licensing partnership, Apple and Cingular have brought one of the most innovative products ever created to consumers," says Robin Sitver, Co-Chair of the LES Consumer Products Sector.
The Industry-University-Government Interface (IUGI) Sector:
BP, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Partnership
The winner in this category is a partnership led by the University of California, Berkeley, in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois that was selected by BP as the recipient of a $500 million, 10-year grant to form the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI). The EBI, which exemplifies BP's commitment to the development of novel, clean energy solutions, will pull from multiple scientific disciplines to seek novel solutions to global energy challenges, including harnessing bioenergy to develop clean, renewable energy sources and mitigating the impact of fossil fuels on global warming. Key focus areas will include feedstock development, biomass depolymerization, biofuel production, and fossil fuel bioprocessing.
LES IUGI Sector Co-Chairs Bob Gruetzmacher and Nathan Golden, and Chair-Elect Elaine White, believe that this partnership is unique in scope and represents an innovative model for collaboration between academia, government labs, and industry. "This deal enables the partners to leverage complementary skills, expertise and resources in a way that has the potential to result in the development of novel energy sources and solutions that could significantly benefit the global community", says White. "The IUGI Sector is extremely pleased to congratulate this year's winners for this important collaboration."
Health Care Sector:
Targacept Alliances with GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca
Targacept, Inc., a company developing a new class of drugs known as NNR Therapeutics™, was honored with global pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and AstraZeneca for separate deals for the development and commercialization of potential new drugs to address critical areas of unmet medical need. Each of the multi-faceted deals also includes a significant research component designed to produce additional novel compounds.
"While by no means the first time a research focused biopharma company has established multiple exclusive collaborations in closely related targets, Targacept and its partners are to be credited for doing so with dexterity. In addition to their scope and value, there are several interesting aspects of these deals that make them worthy of recognition. For example, each deal includes distinct therapeutic focus areas and prescribes exclusivity based primarily on binding and activity at specific neuronal nicotinic receptor (NNR) subtypes, thereby meeting the needs of the big pharma partner while preserving for Targacept the opportunity for independent pursuits," said Jake Schaible, President, Toscana Ventures, Inc and Chair of the LES Health Care Sector.
The GSK deal, made through its Center of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD), and signed in 2007, provides for Targacept to discover novel small molecules that target specified NNR subtypes for five therapeutic focus areas – pain, smoking cessation, obesity, addiction and Parkinson's disease – and develop the most promising for each of the five areas through Phase 2 proof of concept (POC). Targacept is eligible to receive pre- and post-POC achievement milestones. Upon achievement of POC, GSK has an exclusive option to secure a license and become responsible for late-stage development and commercialization on a worldwide basis. Uniquely structured, the alliance is designed to combine Targacept's proven drug discovery and early development proficiency with GSK's global development and commercialization expertise and resources.
The AstraZeneca deal, signed in 2005, includes Targacept's Phase 2b product candidate AZD3480 (TC-1734) and is focused in cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In addition to AZD3480, the deal involves a multi-year preclinical research collaboration in which the parties work closely together to discover additional novel compounds to treat cognitive disorders. Targacept has an option to co-promote in the United States AZD3480 and any compounds that arise out of the research collaboration. Independent of the research collaboration, the deal also includes a mechanism by which Targacept can offer to AstraZeneca compounds that act on different NNR subtypes than AZD3480 for cognitive disorders.
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About the LES Deals of Distinction™ Awards Program
Started in 2005, the LES Deals of Distinction™ Awards Program aspires to recognize worthy transactions involving licensing and transfer of intellectual property and promote creative and innovative solutions to business issues involving contracts. Nominations with the support of a LES member are considered and, with input from that industry, recommended by the LES Deals of Distinction Awards Committee and ratified by the LES Executive Committee. The criteria for the 2008 awards include distinctive deals in structure or objective, consummated in 2007, with at least one party having a presence in the U.S.A. and Canada. The physical award is hand sculpted glass by the artisans of Parris-Roché Design Studios, consisting of a pair of entwined blue glass ribbons encased in a clear conic pinnacle, symbolic of parties coming together and obtaining superior results through collaboration. The awards were announced in connection with the 200 LES Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, USA, held October 19-23, 2008, which included participation of more than 1,200 licensing executives. For more information on the LES Deals of Distinction Awards™ program, see http://www.usa-canada.les.org/dda.asp.
About Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada), Inc.
Established in 1965, the Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. & Canada), Inc. (LES) is a professional society comprised of over 6,000 members engaged in the transfer, use, development, manufacture and marketing of intellectual property. The LES membership includes a wide range of professionals, including business executives, lawyers, licensing consultants, engineers, academicians, scientists and government officials. Many large corporations, professional firms, and universities comprise the Society's membership. Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. & Canada), Inc. is a member society of the Licensing Executives Society International, Inc. (LESI), with a worldwide membership of over 12,000 members in 30 national societies, representing over 80 countries. For more information on LES, see http://www.usa-canada.les.org/aboutus/
About SABIC Innovative Plastics
SABIC Innovative Plastics is a leading, global supplier of engineering thermoplastics with a 75-year history of breakthrough solutions that solve its customers' most pressing challenges. Today, SABIC Innovative Plastics is a multi-billion-dollar company with operations in more than 25 countries and over 10,500 employees worldwide. The company continues to lead the plastics industry with customer collaboration and continued investments in new polymer technologies, global application development, process technologies, and environmentally responsible solutions that serve diverse markets such as automotive, electronics, building & construction, transportation, and healthcare. The company's extensive product portfolio includes thermoplastic resins, coatings, specialty compounds, film, and sheet. SABIC Innovative Plastics (www.sabic-ip.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), one of the world's top five petrochemicals manufacturers.
About Cingular
Cingular wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving 58.7 million customers. Cingular is solely owned by AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), a premier communications holding company in the United States and worldwide. Cingular has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation—the Allover Network—and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is a leader in third generation wireless technology, featuring the first widely available HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) service in the world. Cingular is the only US wireless carrier to offer Rollover, the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes.
About the University of California Berkeley Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances
UC Berkeley's Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA) was created in 2004 to provide a "one-stop shop" for industry research partners to interact with the campus. IPIRA's mission is to establish and maintain multifaceted relationships with private companies, and thereby enhance the research enterprise of the Berkeley campus. These relationships include sponsored research collaborations, and intellectual property commercialization.
About the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
In the world of science, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has been synonymous with "excellence" Since its founding in 1931. Eleven scientists associated with Berkeley Lab have won the Nobel Prize and 55 Nobel Laureates either trained here or had significant collaborations with our Laboratory. Thirteen Berkeley Lab scientists have won the National Medal of Science, our nation's highest award for lifetime achievement in fields of scientific research. Berkeley Lab is a member of the national laboratory system supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through its Office of Science. It is managed by the University of California (UC) and is charged with conducting unclassified research across a wide range of scientific disciplines.
About the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Established in 1867, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a premier public research university distinguished by the breadth and quality of its programs — from agriculture and environmental sciences, architecture, veterinary medicine, engineering and law to business, communications, fine and applied arts, social work, applied health, education, the liberal arts and sciences, aviation, library sciences, and social work. The 785-acre campus located in east-central Illinois includes architectural gems from the 1800s as well as 21st century, high-tech buildings such as the Seibel Center and the Institute for Genomic Biology. Faculty conduct world-class interdisciplinary research and scholarship in an environment that enables creative thinking and promotes academic excellence. Urbana boasts Nobel Laureates, MacArthur Fellows and faculty whose research is among the most cited in their fields.
About BP
BP is of one of the world's largest energy companies with operations in more than 100 countries across six continents. The company's main businesses are exploration and production of oil and gas; refining, manufacturing and marketing of oil products and petrochemicals; transportation and marketing of natural gas; and a growing business in renewable, low-carbon and alternative energies, BP Alternative Energy. BP spends significant amounts every year on university research and technology programs around the world, spanning every aspect of its current business, and seeks to foster further innovation in the industry through selected collaborations with innovative technology forums and companies. For more information, visit www.bp.com.
About Targacept
Targacept, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is a world leader in the discovery and development of NNR Therapeutics(TM), a new class of drugs for the treatment of central nervous system diseases and disorders. Targacept's product candidates selectively modulate neuronal nicotinic receptors that serve as key regulators of the nervous system to promote therapeutic effects and limit adverse side effects. Targacept has product candidates in clinical development for Alzheimer's disease and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorders, and pain, as well as multiple preclinical programs in inflammation, smoking cessation, addiction, obesity and Parkinson's disease. The company has ongoing strategic collaborations with AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline. Additional information is available at www.targacept.com.
About GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline is one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies and is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For more information, visit GlaxoSmithKline on the World Wide Web at www.gsk.com.
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of meaningful prescription medicines and supplier for healthcare services. AstraZeneca is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of $29.55 billion and is a leader in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infectious disease medicines. In the United States, AstraZeneca is a $13.35 billion dollar healthcare business with 12,200 employees committed to improving people's lives. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index. For more information, please visit www.astrazeneca-us.com.
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