BIA Separations, a bio-chromatography development and manufacturing company, has signed a licensing agreement with the University of Zagreb to commercialise a novel elution method that helps preserve the integrity, infectivity and potency of viruses during immunoaffinity purification.
The University of Zagreb in Croatia will provide BIA Separations with access to proprietary technology, while Slovenia-based BIA Separations will market the technology to biopharma, biotech and life science industries globally.
As part of the agreement, research teams from both organisations will collaborate to develop follow-on technologies to support the purification of viruses and viral vectors for research and clinical use.
Technology
One of the key disadvantages of the immunoaffinity chromatography is partial degradation of viral particles as a result of low pH conditions required for the elution.
The technology overcomes this by using a concentrated solution of specifically selected amino acids and their salts, maintaining a neutral pH (6.0 – 8.0) which results in the highly effective elution from immunoaffinity chromatographic support of intact and functional viruses for gene therapy application.
BIA Separations will commercialise the technology through sales of the company’s core separations products and services, or as individual licence agreements. BIA has a lot of business in North America and has stated that construction of production facilities at a new North American location is expected in 2022 to be completed by the end of 2023.
Aleš Štrancar, CEO of BIA Separations, said: “In order to achieve fully integrated upstream and downstream processing with robust in-process control we are collaborating with other leaders in the industry to access the latest technologies and products. This agreement with the University Zagreb is one of a number currently in the pipeline and supports our ultimate goal.”
Professor Miljenko Šimpraga, Vice-rector for Innovation, Technology Transfer and Communication at the University of Zagreb added: “The University of Zagreb is pleased to see solutions developed by our researchers contributing to improvements in medical biotechnology, and being brought closer to users through our work with innovation-oriented industry partners such as BIA Separations.”
