News release issued December 18, 2000, effective immediately.

Technology transfer to benefit Foundation

ARDMORE, Okla. — A scientific procedure developed in-part by researchers at the Noble Foundation is part of a technology transfer agreement between NaPro BioTherapeutics, Inc., a Colorado-based company, and two universities. NaPro plans to use and license the technology to develop improved food crops, enhance research capabilities, and eventually develop new or improved treatments for human disease.

The agreement directly involves NaPro, the University of Delaware, and Thomas Jefferson University. The Foundation, which had previously assigned its rights to the technology to the University of Delaware, will receive research support and licensing fees.

The procedures and technology involved in the agreement were developed as a joint project between Dr. Gregory May, a Noble Foundation scientist, and Dr. Eric B. Kmiec at the University of Delaware. The technology enables scientists to alter specific genes in a plant without introducing foreign DNA from other organisms. The procedure developed by May and Kmeic is described in one of a number of patents involved in the agreement between NaPro and the universities.

"You can think of this as gene therapy for plants," May explained. "It allows us to make precise changes to a plant's genetic blueprint. Noble’s component is mostly procedural; understanding how the process works and making the method more efficient."

Development of the technology began while May was on staff at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Ithaca, New York, and continued when May joined the Foundation in May 1999. Ben Dugdale, Thomas Oh, and Yvonne Torres-Jerez worked with May on the project at the Foundation.

"We knew that there was a market for this technology," May said. "With the significant efforts of Larry Pulliam (Foundation Executive Vice President) we licensed this technology to the University of Delaware."

Potential applications of the technology are far-reaching, according to May.

"Our research was plant-specific but applicable to all organisms," he explained. "NaPro can use this to develop pharmaceutical models or to tweak the ways plants manufacture compounds they are interested in. The technology is a way to cause beneficial gene changes in plants without involving DNA from other organisms."

Leonard P. Shaykin, NaPro Chairman and CEO, is equally bullish on the potential of the technology.

"We are pleased with this first step into the field of genomics and gene transformation," Shaykin explained. "We have a number of gene targets currently slated for internal development. We have also begun actively soliciting partnerships with biopharmaceutical, diagnostics and agricultural companies for commercial development of the products derived from the application of this unique enabling technology."

The bulk of the ongoing research will be conducted at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute.

Information on the Noble Foundation and its programs is available at www.noble.org.

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Photos: May-Color | May-B/W

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a non-profit organization conducting agricultural, forage biotechnological, and plant biology research; providing grants to numerous non-profit charitable, educational and health organizations; and assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs.

To learn more, check out the Noble Foundation Web site at http://www.noble.org.

More news releases available at www.noble.org/Press_Release