Crucell & NIH Sign 21.4 Million Ebola Vaccine Contract

[terry]

Crucell and NIH Sign 21.4 Million Ebola Vaccine Manufacturing Contract
Thursday April 14, 2005


LEIDEN, Netherlands, April 14, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Dutch biotechnology company Crucell N.V. (Euronext:CRXL) (Nasdaq:CRXL) announced today that it has signed a manufacturing contract with the Vaccine Research Center (VRC), part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for the manufacture of vaccines against Ebola infections.

Under the terms of the contract, Crucell will manufacture up to ten batches of clinical material of the PER.C6(r)-based Ebola vaccine in its own manufacturing facility. These materials will be used for Phase I and early Phase II clinical studies in humans. Crucell will receive up to 21.4 million (US$ 27.6 million) from the VRC for the manufacturing of these clinical lots.

"We are pleased to have continued the expansion of our relationship with the VRC on the development of this novel vaccine against bioterrorism," said Crucell's Chief Scientific Officer, Jaap Goudsmit.

About Crucell

Crucell N.V. is a biotechnology company focused on developing vaccines and antibodies that prevent and treat infectious diseases, including Ebola, influenza, malaria, West Nile virus and rabies. The company's development programs include collaborations with Sanofi Pasteur for influenza vaccines, the U.S. National Institutes of Health for Ebola and malaria vaccines, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and New York University for a malaria vaccine. Crucell's products are based on its innovative PER.C6(r) technology, which offers a safer, more efficient way to produce biopharmaceuticals. The company licenses its PER.C6(r) technology to the biopharmaceutical industry on a mostly non-exclusive basis. Licensees and partners include DSM Biologics, GSK, Centocor/J&J and Merck & Co., Inc.
Crucell is headquartered in Leiden, The Netherlands, and is listed on the Euronext and NASDAQ stock exchanges (ticker symbol CRXL). For more information, please visit crucell.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We have identified certain important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. For information relating to these factors please refer to our Form 20-F, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2004, and the section entitled "Risk Factors".

The company prepares its financial statements under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (U.S. GAAP).

Click here for a PDF version of this press release: hugin.info/132631/R/989152/148350.pdf

BL Fisher Note:
The way the pharmaceutical industry funds and government health agencies provide affordable vaccines to Third World populations is for populations in the U.S. and Europe to purchase vaccines at full price and use them on a mass basis. Ebola may not be a problem in the U.S. or Europe (although CDC officials are fond of reminding everyone on a daily basis that deadly disease is just a "plane ride" or terrorist plot away) but when an ebola vaccine is developed, the most likely scenario will be that it will be mandated in countries that don't need it to pay for getting it to countries which do.