Novozymes Biopharma and Almac are to work together to provide a combined service for drug development applications in drug targeting and pharmacokinetic improvements.
The collaboration will allow clients to use Almac’s manufacturing assets and protein conjugation capability to link Novozymes’ Recombumin Flex technology to their peptide and small molecule drugs. This subsequently improves the pharmacokinetics and has already been shown to improve drug targeting in oncology and rheumatoid arthritis. Collaborations with commercial partners have begun and will continue to expand in early 2014.
The two companies have a solid history of cooperation in peptide and small molecule conjugation projects. They say that formalising this collaboration offers drug developers continuity of service provision through the stages of clinical development, delivering efficiencies in time and internal resource, while increasing the chances of clinical success.
Drug developers will also benefit from the firms' extensive experience in product and service provision to the pharmaceutical industry with access to both technical and regulatory support.
Novozymes’ Recombumin Flex technology is the main focus of the collaboration. The firm has modified the amino acid sequence of human albumin to increase its receptor affinity, providing novel properties including improved half-life extension and drug targeting. This technology complements Almac’s expertise in peptide and small molecule manufacturing, and can also be allied to its protein conjugation technology offerings. As a result, clients will be able to use Almac’s technology to link Recombumin Flex to their drug products as part of one contract service offering.
'By working alongside Almac, we are confident that we will be able to create more opportunities for developers seeking to benefit from the Recombumin Flex technology,' said Dermot Pearson, Marketing Director at Novozymes Biopharma. 'The advantage of working with two companies well versed in providing products and services to the pharmaceutical industry is that customers gain the assurance that their needs will be provided for, not just in the short term, but right through to commercial supply.'
Both Almac and Novozymes Biopharma are exhibiting at CPhI WorldWide this week: Almac in Hall 4.2 L08, and Novozymes in Hall 6.2 62E47.
