BAC BV expands alliance with Octapharma Group for the purification of recombinant proteins
BAC and Octapharma Extend Recombinant Factor IX Collaboration for Clinical and Commercial Scale Production, and Initiate a Further Blood Disorder Programme
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Under the terms of the FIX agreement Octapharma will have licence to use BAC’s anti-FIX ligand for the purification of FIX from mammalian cell culture. Under the terms of the G-CSF agreement BAC will perform ligand discovery and development to provide an anti-G-CSF ligand, which will then undergo feasibility studies at Octapharma.
Factor IX is an essential product for the prophylaxis and treatment of bleeding in Haemophilia B, an X-linked recessive blood disorder that affects around 1 in 30,000 men. Octapharma currently markets a plasma-derived FIX product and is now progressing its recombinant FIX project. G-CSF is a hormone that stimulates bone marrow to produce white blood cells and stem cells, and has therapeutic uses in oncology and haematology.
“The progression of the Factor IX programme from feasibility study to scale up, and the initiation of the G-CSF project, are significant in our ongoing relationship with Octapharma,” said Dr Laurens Sierkstra, CEO of BAC. “All the team here at BAC are delighted that our anti-FIX ligand has proven to be such a good fit for Octapharma’s downstream processes, and we are looking forward to working on its scale-up and developing a new affinity ligand for G-CSF.”
“It is important for Octapharma to have access to a technology for the development of affinity resins that are completely free of animal-derived components,” said Kim Björnstrup, Vice Chairman of Octapharma Group. “This is important for us to be able to fulfil our continuous intentions to provide a safe product portfolio. The BAC affinity ligand concept has fulfilled this need, and in addition has been a powerful tool in the purification process, facilitating a final product of highest purity.”
Octapharma is currently performing clinical trials with a proprietary recombinant Factor VIII product produced in a human cell line (HEK293F cells) intended for the treatment of Haemophilia A patients. The purification of this product also includes an affinity ligand developed by BAC and supplied by GE Healthcare (VIIISelect affinity resin).
BAC’s CaptureSelect technology uses a unique type of antibody fragment to create a highly specific affinity ligand for the single-step purification of any target protein. BAC has partnered with GE Healthcare to provide the anti-FIX ligand as a resin suitable for commercial-scale bioprocessing. Octapharma will have full access to GE Healthcare’s experience and support in fulfilling regulatory requirements during scale-up and ongoing production.
Dr Sierkstra will be presenting further information on BAC’s commercial projects at BIO-Europe 2009, Vienna, at 15.15 hrs on 3rd November (Shubert 2, level 1).
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About BAC
BAC BV offers a wide range of products and services for affinity purification of biological materials from complex media. The Company’s proprietary CaptureSelect® affinity ligands, based on Camelid single chain antibody fragments, have been proven to be suitable in a wide range of biological applications including Life Science Research and Biomanufacturing. BAC’s CaptureSelect ligands are available through the Company’s custom design service, or as off-the-shelf bioprocess products through commercial partners. CaptureSelect ligands for research applications are available direct from BAC through the Company’s web shop.
CaptureSelect® ligand technology is based on selection of single chain antibody fragments with desirable chromatographic characteristics including robustness, high specificity and flexibility. Suitable ligands are cloned and expressed in high-titres through an animal-free Saccharomyces cerevisiae-based process.
BAC BV was established in 1995 as a Unilever subsidiary. Currently the Company employs 37 people with an R&D laboratory facility in Leiden and a state-of-the-art ISO 9001 certified manufacturing plant in Naarden, the Netherlands. For more information about BAC, visit our website at www.bac.nl. For more information about CaptureSelect® products, visit our website at www.captureselect.com
About Octapharma
The Octapharma Group is an independent, Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company operating worldwide. Octapharma’s core business is the development, production, and sale of high-quality human proteins for the treatment of life-threatening diseases.
The Group has more than 3,000 employees in 28 countries, and owns five modern, state-of-the-art production facilities in Austria, France, Germany, Sweden and Mexico, respectively.
Octapharma’s company mission is to provide safe and effective biopharmaceutical products derived from human cells or blood plasma to patients in need of lifesaving therapy.
For more information about Octapharma, visit our website at www.octapharma.com.
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