Firm’s contract manufacturing business will combine technology with BI-HEX expression system.
Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) negotiated a nonexclusive license to ProBioGen’s GlymaxX® technology for the production of afucosylated proteins. The GlymaxX platform has been developed to enable the production of antibodies with minimal fucose content, which ProBioGen claims enhances binding to NK cells and thus increases antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). The platform can in addition be applied to new and pre-existing producer cell clones and can be engineered in less than 10 weeks.
“With the combination of the BI-HEX® platform and ProBioGen’s GlymaxX technology we can offer our customers tailored solutions for high titer expression of highly potent antibodies,” adds Simon Sturge, corporate svp for biopharmaceuticals at BI.
ProBioGen offers a range of contract development and manufacturing services and access to its cell lines for the manufacture of therapeutic proteins and vaccines. Tailored services span cell-line and process development to complete manufacturing programs, accompanied by a range of physico-chemical analyses and activity assays.
BI-HEX is BI’s fast-track high-expression system for the production of biopharmaceuticals from CHO cells. The firm says starting with product gene cloning into the BI HEX vectors, material for toxicological studies from monoclonal cell lines can be generated in just 15 months. The BI-HEX processes can also be used directly to produce Phase I trial material, the firm states. A range of development packages is available, including cell line only, cell line with parallel process development for toxicology- or cGMP-grade clinical material, and cell line followed by process development.
