Agreement includes process development and clinical production of VGX-100 for trials in Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and gastric cancer.
Diosynth Biotechnology signed an agreement with VGX Pharmaceuticals for process development and production of clinical trial material for the latter’s anticancer candidate.
VGX Pharmaceuticals says that it has developed technology using specific viral proteins that can induce selective apoptosis in rapidly dividing cancer cells, leaving normal cells unharmed. VGX-100, a recombinant viral protein r (Vpr), induces tumor cell death through apoptosis in a number of human-derived tumor tissues, including breast, prostate, and brain. Initial clinical trials will target patients with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and gastric cancer.
The development and manufacturing program that Diosynth Biotechnology will perform employs the Dowpharma Pfenex Expression Technology™, a Pseudomonas-based technology. Pfenex Expression Technology can increase yields of recombinant protein when used in biomanufacturing applications, according to Diosynth.
