Biovitrum bolsters contract business
unit, Biovitrum Biopharmaceuticals, to strengthen its position as a
supplier of process development and contract manufacture of
recombinant proteins. The move follows a three-year agreement with
Amgen.
Biotechnology company Biovitrum has established a new business unit, Biovitrum Biopharmaceuticals, to strengthen its position as a supplier of process development and contract manufacture of recombinant proteins.
The announcement comes hard on the heels of the Swedish company's signing of a three-year partnership with Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company. Amgen has commissioned Biovitrum to develop a cost-efficient commercial production process for future protein-based pharmaceuticals.
The two companies have been working closely together in recent months. In September, Amgen licensed rights to a series of Biovitrum's 11-beta HSD1 enzyme inhibitors for the treatment of metabolic diseases and granted Biovitrum co-promotion rights to Kineret (anakinra), a new drug for rheumatoid arthritis, in Europe.
The unit will be headed by Hans örström who will also become a member of the Biovitrum senior management team.
Biovitrum Biopharmaceuticals has ahead start in both process development and the production of recombinant proteins as it can draw on its heritage as the offspring of Kabivitrum, which alongside Genentech was involved in the development of recombinant human growth hormone in the early 1980s. The company was spun out of Pharmacia in 2001, ahead of the latter company's merger with Pfizer.
Biovitrum has developed several processes for clinical materials and for the commercial production of recombinant protein-based pharmaceuticals, such as ReFacto (recombinant factor VIII). ReFacto, which is used in the treatment of haemophilia, has been produced by Biovitrum and marketed by US pharmaceuticals company Wyeth since 2000.
The agreement will grant Amgen access to Biovitrum's expertise in securing a stable production process for future launches of protein-based pharmaceuticals.
"This is an important milestone for Biovitrum Biopharmaceuticals. We are entering a multi-year collaboration with the world's most successful company in protein-based pharmaceuticals," said örström.
Biovitrum Biopharmaceuticals' other customers include Pfizer, Active Biotech, Lundbeck and Wyeth.
