Johannesburg, 16 July 2012 - The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and ICON, Munich/Halle, Germany, have announced that they have entered into an agreement that will allow the CSIR to make use of its plant-based manufacturing platform known as 'magnICON®' for research and development (R&D) and royalty-free manufacturing of rabies vaccines and post-exposure prophylaxis antibodies against rabies for the Sub-Saharan Africa region. There are 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, most of which are in dire need of efficient and affordable medicines to control the scourge of rabies. Under the recently signed agreement, ICON will provide the materials, know-how, training, R&D licence, as well as royalty free commercial licence option to the CSIR.

magnICON® technology is a set of transient gene expression processes that allow for a rapid and high-level expression of recombinant proteins, in particular pharmaceuticals, in green plants. The speed, efficiency and yield of recombinant protein from plants provided by magnICON® is the highest in the industry based on Frost & Sullivan's independent analysis of recombinant expression systems.

Dr Victor Klimyuk, ICON's Chief Operations Officer, said: "We admire efforts at the CSIR to develop the new medicines for underprivileged parts of the world's population. The signed contract provides our colleagues at the CSIR with access to one of the most advanced expression technologies in the Plant-made Pharmaceuticals (PMP) field for the development of new biopharmaceuticals so much needed for the Sub-Saharan Africa region."

Dr Rachel Chikwamba, CSIR's Group Executive, Strategic Alliances and Communication, said: "Biopharming represents a unique opportunity for countries like South Africa to participate in the local production of high value biotechnology drugs and reagents for human and animal health. We have partnered over the years with ICON and other organisations in the development of some of our products, and this alliance creates a formidable partnership which brings together global state-of-the-art technologies on the plant made pharmaceuticals value chain, which can greatly benefit the CSIR and South Africa."

Dr Chikwamba added, "The CSIR is indeed privileged to continue working with this alliance to address some of the challenges in the local availability of high value pharmaceuticals, particularly for infectious and emerging chronic diseases."