JSR Life Sciences is to acquire mammalian cell-line development specialist Selexis, and integrate the Switzerland-based company with KBI Biopharma, the U.S.-based biopharma contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that Japan-based JSR acquired in 2015.
Financial details of the Selexis acquisition were not disclosed, but JSR maintains that combining the firm with KBI will create what it calls the most “robust and fastest gene-to-GMP-service offering in the biopharmaceutical industry.” The two firms have previously worked together on behalf of their partners, and since 2012 KBI has carried out development and/or manufacturing services using more than 15 Selexis-generated cell lines.
“Selexis has the best-in-class cell-line development technology and offers the ability to solve some of the most difficult expression challenges in biologics development,” commented Eric R. Johnson, president of JSR’s life sciences division. “The Selexis technologies seamlessly integrate into the biologics development continuum, spanning discovery to commercialization.”
Selexis says its SUREtechnology Platform™ can be used to generate stable cell lines, producing just about any recombinant protein. Within the last few weeks, the firm has signed separate SUREtechnology Platform agreements with TeneoBio, Merck KGaA, and with OSE Therapeutics. Also last month, Selexis opened its new corporate headquarters and laboratory facilities in Geneva, Switzerland.
“Combining KBI’s robust analytical, process development, and reliable high-quality manufacturing capabilities with our Selexis SUREtechnology Platform puts us in a position to offer current and future partners the ability to take their R&D programs from transfection to investigational new drug (IND) application in less than nine months,” stated Igor Fisch, Ph.D., Selexis CEO. “By delivering the fastest timelines in the industry, our partners will benefit from substantial cost savings and patients will have access to critical drugs sooner.”
Established in 1996, KBI offers integrated mammalian and microbial cell line, process development, and cGMP manufacturing services for recombinant protein active pharmaceutical ingredients. Founded in 1996, the firm operates four facilities in Durham and Research Triangle Park (NC), Boulder (CO), and The Woodlands (TX). During March, the firm reported signing a cell-therapy development and manufacturing agreement with BriaCell, for the latter’s BriaVax™ allogeneic, genetically engineered whole-cell breast cancer vaccine.
