Novozymes Biopharma to Offer Drug-Albumin Conjugation Platform in Collaboration with ThioLogics
13 May 2014
Product news
Novozymes Biopharma has entered a new collaboration with UK-based biotechnology company, ThioLogics. The collaboration brings together Novozymes' modified recombinant human albumin (rAlbumin) Veltis technology, with ThioLogics' site-specific next generation maleimide conjugation platform. This allows Novozymes to offer the pharma industry serum stable albumin drug conjugates with enhanced pharmacokinetic and/or targeting capabilities.
As part of the partnership, Novozymes' customers will be given valuable access to conjugation specialists, providing assurance that they will receive the highest level of support to design stable and efficacious drug candidates.
"Combining the benefits of Novozymes' and ThioLogics' technology platforms means that we can now work with more customers across a wider range of drug candidates," says Dermot Pearson, Marketing Director at Novozymes Biopharma. He continues, "Together we are creating new opportunities for customers by providing them with a single access point to link Novozymes' Veltis albumins and ThioLogics' conjugation platform, to improve their products.
Exclusively marketed through Novozymes Biopharma, the collaboration will allow Novozymes to apply its technology to molecules that are not amenable to a genetic fusion approach, such as synthesized peptides and small molecules in oncology and rheumatoid arthritis. Combining the advantages of the two technologies will enable the versatile modification of these therapeutic molecules to yield well-defined, stable and consistent conjugates.
"We are delighted to announce ThioLogics' unique collaboration with Novozymes, which will expand the capabilities of our technology platform beyond antibody drug conjugates," comments Dr Chris Williams, Business Development Manager at ThioLogics.
Professor Stephen Caddick, one of the Founders of ThioLogics said; "For the first time, the linking of our two platforms will make well-defined and stable albumin conjugation a reality, providing manufacturers with serum stable drug conjugates with tailored pharmacokinetics to maximize the therapeutic potential of their products.
Combining the Veltis platform with ThioLogics’ next generation maleimide technology, in addition to Novozymes' recently announced partnership with Almac, provides Veltis with a strong position in the field of drug conjugation and supports the use of the technology in peptide and protein fusion.
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VELTIS® - Albumin technology
Novozymes Biopharma UK LtdAn ideal choice for drug delivery. Human albumin is ideally suited as a half-life extension approach for protein drugs. It is a natural, non-immunogenic plasma carrier protein which is extremely stable, highly soluble and large enough to avoid renal clearance. It is also widely accepted that albumin is recycled in the body, due to its interaction with its receptor, known as the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn). FcRn is present on many cell types, and is responsible for rescuing the molecule from degradation in the lysosome. The combination of albumin’s large size and the FcRn-mediated “recycling” is responsible for the increased half-life of drugs that are genetically fused or conjugated to albumin as exemplified by GSK and TEVA who have Novozymes’ Veltis® technology enabled protein drugs in pivotal Phase III studies. The huge market demand for drugs which work more effectively and have a longer circulatory half-life has led to the formation of many companies who are developing half-life extension technologies. However, Novozymes’ technology is the ONLY technology using natural-functioning, animal-free recombinant albumin. In addition, flexible manufacturing options mean that the technology can be used with any class of molecule. The combination of these unique elements means Novozymes’ technology can help partners develop and take improved and innovative drugs from clinic to market more efficiently and cost effectively.