Wacker Bio licenses its E. coli based production strain to PhaseBio

06-May-2019 - Last updated on 06-May-2019 at 15:53 GMT

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Wacker licenses E. coli based production strain to PhaseBio for the manufacture of antibody fragment.

The biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer will give PhaseBio access to its esetec technology to manufacture antibody fragment, PB2452.

Susanne Leonhartsberger, managing director of Wacker Biotech, told us that the esetec technology is based on an E. coli K12 strain, which secretes the desired proteins during the fermentation processes that mitigates further steps and costs.

“Secretion facilitates purification of the target protein, since there is no longer any need for complicated process steps such as cell disruption and folding. This makes the manufacturing process much more efficient and cost-effective,” said Leonhartsberger.

The licensing agreement between Wacker and PhaseBio includes the use of the strain and the manufacturing process that produces the antibody fragment. PhaseBio gained the rights to develop PB2452 in 2017.

Additionally, PhaseBio will be able to tap Wacker to produce the fragment at its good manufacturing practice (GMP) facilities.

Antibody fragment PB2452 is a reversal agent for ticagrelor, which is a blood thinner marketed by AstraZeneca as Brilique and Brilinta for patients with acute coronary syndrome. The fragment has demonstrated immediate and sustained reversal of anti-platelet activity of ticagrelor.