Novozymes Biopharma, part of Danish enzymes manufacturer Novozymes, has announced new data on extending the serum half-life of albumin in vivo. This data, presented at this month's PepTalk 2014, demonstrates the potential of the company's half-life extension platform to deliver greater control over the therapeutic half-life of drug candidates, while showing how the technology can introduce the possibility for monthly dosing.
Through the modification of the human albumin molecule, Novozymes has altered the affinity of albumin to the FcRn receptor and has been able to demonstrate extended serum half-life of a range of albumin variants in vivo. The firm says this technology provides drug developers with an attractive approach for optimising the serum half-life of biopharmaceuticals. Already demonstrated in the fields of diabetes, haemophilia and neutropenia, the platform offers the potential to enhance patient quality of life through tailoring drug circulatory half-life to meet specific medical needs, while contributing improvements in compliance and healthcare costs.
'This data represents the most promising insight yet that Novozymes' half-life extension technology delivers the reduction in dosing frequency that we set out to deliver when we began developing the platform five years ago,' said Dermot Pearson, Marketing Director at Novozymes Biopharma.
'We look forward to sharing our latest findings with wider industry experts who can benefit from this leading-edge data.'
A presentation on the new data can be downloaded from the Information Centre on the Novozymes Biopharma website.