Renova Life to supply founder transgenic rabbits to Pharming
To enable Dutch firm to start the commercial breeding process
Dutch biotech company Pharming Group has signed a service agreement with Renova Life (RLI) in which the Maryland, US firm will supply Pharming with founder transgenic rabbits. These animals will enable Pharming to start the commercial production breeding process. The first protein to be expressed in the rabbits will be recombinant human Factor VIII (rhFVIII) for the treatment of haemophilia A.
RLI recently announced the birth of rhFVIII transgenic rabbits through its Chinese subsidiary, Lannuo Biotechnologies, based in Wuxi, China and have previously had successful functional expression of rhFVIII in mice.
The recent European approval of Pharming’s rh C1 inhibitor (Ruconest) has demonstrated Pharming’s ability to produce industrial volumes of high quality recombinant human protein through a method that requires lower capital investment and manufacturing costs than current cell based technologies.
The global rhFVIII market was estimated to worth US$3.8bn in 2009, with 90% of sales in the developed markets and high unmet medical needs in the developing markets, such as China.
