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Intercell Receives Milestone Payment From Merck & Co. Inc Triggered By Initiation Of Phase II Clinical Trial of Investigational Vaccine to Prevent S. aureus Infection

  Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible
  for the content of this announcement.
16.12.2007
Vienna (Austria), December 16th 2007 - Intercell AG (VSE: ICLL) today
announced progress in its collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc. to 
develop a vaccine to prevent Staphylococcus aureus, (S. aureus), 
infection. Merck has initiated a Phase II clinical trial designed to 
evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single dose of the candidate 
vaccine in patients undergoing elective surgery. The start of this 
Phase II trial triggers a milestone payment of USD 4 million to 
Intercell.
Gerd Zettlmeissel, CEO of Intercell, commented "We are extremely 
pleased that Merck has started Phase II studies, using a S. aureus 
vaccine discovered using our proprietary Antigen Identification 
Platform (AIP®) technology. This serves as further validation of the 
ability of our AIP® to deliver novel bacterial vaccine candidates."
The S. aureus vaccine candidate is based on a conserved protein 
antigen discovered by Intercell and licensed to Merck & Co., Inc. in 
2004 on an exclusive world wide basis.  Merck is responsible for 
clinical development, manufacturing and marketing. Intercell is 
eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties on future net 
sales. In Phase I clinical trials the S. aureus candidate vaccine was
shown to be immunogenic, safe and generally well tolerated.
Hospital Acquired Infections
Hospital acquired infections caused by bacteria are one of the major 
causes of death and serious illness. Intercell has embarked on a 
large scale, comprehensive and multi-target antigen identification 
program to contribute to vaccine efforts in this field. Besides 
Merck´s S. aureus vaccine, based on an antigen identified by 
Intercell, Intercell is developing a vaccine against hospital 
acquired infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa - a clinical 
Phase II/III trial is expected to be initiated in 2008 - and has 
ongoing pre-clinical programs for Enterococcus and Klebsiella vaccine
discovery.
About S. aureus
S. aureus is the most frequent cause of hospital acquired infections.
In addition to bloodstream infections with a mortality rate of up to 
35%, infections of bone, heart and other inner organs are leading to 
serious health complications, death and economic burden. Today, 
approximately 50% of S. aureus strains isolated in hospitals 
worldwide are resistant to multiple antibiotics, rendering 
staphylococcal disease management increasingly difficult and 
challenging. Hospital-acquired infections are one of the major causes
of death and serious illness worldwide, resulting in an annual burden
of more than USD 20 billion in the developed world. In the United 
States alone, about two million patients become infected annually 
while receiving health care in hospitals.
end of announcement                               euro adhoc

Further inquiry note:

Intercell AG
Lucia Malfent
Head of Corporate Communications
Campus Vienna Biocenter 2, A-1030 Vienna
P: +43-1-20620-303
Mail to: LMalfent@intercell.com

Branche: Biotechnology
ISIN: AT0000612601
WKN: A0D8HW
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / official market

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Plus de actualités: Intercell AG