Press Releases
ViaGen merges with Start Licensing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Austin, Texas – ViaGen, Inc. announced today its merger with Start Licensing, Inc. (Start). ViaGen is the leading global livestock cloning and genomics company. Start manages and licenses a broad portfolio of intellectual property rights related to animal reproductive technologies, including foundational nuclear transfer cloning technology developed at the Roslin Foundation for the cloning of Dolly the sheep.
The merger cements ViaGen’s dominance in the emerging animal cloning field by combining animal cloning expertise and the necessary IP all under one roof.
“We will continue to offer our clients superior livestock cloning services,” said ViaGen President Mark Walton, Ph.D., “and now also look forward to enabling innovative partners to utilize these technologies through licensing with Start.” Nuclear transfer technologies have applications not only in animal cloning but also in therapeutic protein production, xenotransplantation, and biomedical animal modeling.”
Under the terms of the merger, ViaGen acquired the shares of Start held by Geron Corporation (Nasdaq:GERN) of Menlo Park, California. and Exeter Life Sciences of Phoenix, Arizona, in exchange for equity in ViaGen. Start will continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ViaGen.
About Start Licensing
Start manages and licenses a broad portfolio of intellectual property rights related to animal reproductive technologies, including foundational nuclear transfer cloning technology developed at the Roslin Foundation (formerly Roslin Institute) for the cloning of Dolly the sheep. Start’s licensees are on the cutting edge of research and product development in food production, medical applications and many other fields.