GSK boosts vaccine and cancer units with tech licenses
Under the Belgium-based Delphi agreement, GSK will be granted non-exclusive rights to the patented StabyExpress technology for the production of vaccines for human use. In exchange, GSK will provide payments at each development stage of a new protein being produced, as well as paying out royalties on final products during the marketing phase.
A GSK spokesperson told In-PharmaTechnologist that “As one of the world’s leading producers of human vaccines, GSK is continually seeking to drive innovation within the vaccine development process, primarily through our own R&D organization, but also through collaboration and agreements with external partners.”
Philippe Gabant, CEO of Delphi Genetics, explained to In-PharmaTechnologist that the StabyExpress system increases the protein yield in the manufacture of recombinant vaccines, without the need for the traditional use of antibiotics.
“Using a no antibiotic system,” he said, “reduces the environmental impact caused by the degradation of antibiotics, and is thus safer for the environment.”
Cancer immunotherapy
In its second deal of the week, the Big Pharma company plan to make use of OncoMethylome Sciences’ (OMS) DNA methylation specific PCR biomarkers in its antigen-specific cancer immunotherapy development programme.
OncoMethylome claim the biomarker technology is stable, highly accurate, and enables researchers to analyse non-invasive tissue samples, unlike some other biomarkers.
Using the firm’s patent-protected gene methylation technology, the biomakers are designed to detect and diagnose cancer cells by identifying specific methylation markers in DNA from patient samples.
The agreement between the US headquartered bio-tech firm and GSK “marks an important step for our company in the use of our biomarker with certain immunotherapeutics in development by GSK,” said Jan Groen, CEO of OncoMethylome.
“[It] underpins our strategy of leveraging our methylation specific PCR platform in the rapidly emerging field of companion diagnostics and personalized medicine,” he added.
