Paris – Cellectis (Alternext: ALCLS), the Genome engineering specialist, has announced today that its subsidiary Ectycell has signed an agreement with the Caisse des Dépôts (a French financial institution) for a planned capital investment of €12M, in two steps, reserved in equal parts to Cellectis and Caisse des Dépôts.

This agreement should start no later than January 31, 2012, and is subject to the achievement of certain technical conditions.

Following this investment, Cellectis is set to hold about 75% of the capital stock and voting rights of Ectycell, the rest being held by Caisse des Dépôts.

Created in August 2009, Ectycell is dedicated to the industrial development of induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS 1) cells. Ectycell is a sublicensee of Cellectis for various intellectual property usage rights, including those relating to iPS cell technology, under license from iPS Academia Japan.

« This capital increase will speed-up the development of innovative industrial tools derived from iPS cells », said David Sourdive, CEO of Ectycell. « The programs that have been launched should lead to the establishment of a world-leading industrial iPS cell bank in terms of volume and diversity by 2015 ».

The agreement with Caisse des Dépôts is part of an ambitious program launched by Ectycell and dedicated to the development, industrial production and marketing of iPS cells.

“This agreement shows that Caisse des Dépôts, as a privileged partner of the State and local government authorities, considers investment in SMEs a priority, helping to strengthen their equity and promote innovation, “ indicated Patrick François,” Interregional Director Ile de France of Caisse des Dépôts. “It is in line with the support we provide to the French regional poles of competitiveness initiative by investing in innovation platforms.”

This program will be run with the support of Oseo, a French public structure that provides financial support for innovative French companies.

The first commercial offers will be available in the coming months. They will provide unprecedented solutions to current techniques in terms of assessment of toxicity and efficacy of new drugs and cosmetic products.

iPS cell technologies enable adult cells, from sources such as skin or hair, to be reprogrammed to behave like stem cells, which have the capacity to give rise to any cell type such as the heart or liver. Their development should help structure the health and cosmetic industrial sectors. There are numerous potential applications of iPS technologies, in both the therapeutic and industrial sectors, and they address very large markets, due to the fact that they can overcome the volume limitations of the current technologies.

This agreement with Caisse des Dépôts strengthens Cellectis commitment in the Stem cell domain, following on from the collaborative StemRed project, conducted in partnership with Etablissement Français du Sang (French Blood Agency), with the purpose of producing red blood cells from iPS cells as announced on March 8, 2011.

1 IPS : induced Pluripotent Stem cells, obtained from genetically reprogrammed adult cells