Zymeworks Contracts ProBioGen for Bi-specific GlymaxX® Antibody Cell Line Development
Cancer Antibody with Enhanced ADCC Potency to be Produced
Berlin, Germany and Vancouver, Canada, 14 October 2015
ProBioGen AG, a leading specialist for contract development and manufacturing of complex glycoproteins, and Zymeworks Inc., a world-leading antibody therapeutics development company, today jointly announced signing an agreement under which ProBioGen will complete cell line development of a Zymeworks bi-specific antibody product candidate, applying its GlymaxX® Technology to enhance antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC).
ProBioGen’s CSO, Dr. Volker Sandig, commented: “We have been working productively with Zymeworks for some time already and look forward to contributing to the success of Zymeworks’ Azymetric™ bi-specific antibody platform. Our proprietary CHO expression platform is ideally suited for the expression of bi-specific antibodies with high purities and expression titers. The implementation of our innovative GlymaxX® technology for enhanced cancer cell killing underlines the flexibility of our expression platforms’ tool box approach.”
Dr. Ali Tehrani, Zymeworks’ President and CEO said: “We believe that biotherapeutics developed using the Azymetric™ platform have the potential to create game-changing treatment options for patients with unmet medical needs. Our productive partnership with ProBioGen and their highly skilled team will help advance one of Zymeworks’ therapeutic programs into the clinic. The incorporation of the GlymaxX® technology is one of the key components in enhancing the efficacy of this therapeutic candidate."
ProBioGen’s CEO, Dr. Wieland Wolf, added: “We are very pleased to work with Zymeworks as a biopharmaceutical company with world-wide recognition for their innovative and potentially life-changing therapeutic candidates. Given our established working relationship, we are confident that together we will help move highly efficacious bi-specific antibody therapeutics towards clinical validation.
About Zymeworks
Zymeworks is a privately held biotherapeutics company that is developing best-in-class Azymetric™ bi-specific antibodies and antibody drug conjugates for the treatment of oncology, autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases. The company’s novel Azymetric™ and AlbuCORE™ platforms, and its proprietary ZymeCAD™ structure-guided protein engineering technology, enable the development of highly potent bi-specific antibodies and multivalent protein therapeutics targeted across a range of indications. Zymeworks is focused on accelerating its preclinical biotherapeutics pipeline through in-house research and development programs and strategic collaborations. More information on Zymeworks can be found at www.zymeworks.com.
About ProBioGen AG
ProBioGen is a specialist in the development and manufacturing of complex therapeutic glycoproteins. Combining state-of-the-art development platforms together with intelligent product-specific technologies yields biologics with optimised properties. Rapid and integrated cell line and process development, comprehensive analytical development and reliable GMP manufacturing is performed by a highly skilled and experienced team. All services and technologies are embedded in a total quality management system to assure compliance with international ISO and GMP standards (EMA/FDA). ProBioGen has been operational for more than 20 years and is based in Berlin, Germany.
About GlymaxX®
The GlymaxX® technology, developed by ProBioGen, prevents the addition of the sugar “fucose” to the N-linked antibody carbohydrate part by antibody producing cells. The absence of fucose enhances ADCC (Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity). The GlymaxX® technology is based on the stable introduction of a gene for an enzyme which deflects the cellular pathway of fucose biosynthesis. Moreover, GlymaxX® cell lines can be two cell lines in one: They can either produce afucosylated antibodies, or, by adding fucose to the medium, stably produce fully fucosylated antibodies. The GlymaxX® technology is universally applicable, simple and potent, and can be rapidly applied to any existing antibody producer cell line, any new cell line development or to entire expression platforms. ProBioGen offers this technology royalty-free to third parties.
Contact ProBioGen AG
Dr. Gabriele Schneider
VP Business Development
ProBioGen AG
Goethestr. 54
13086 Berlin, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)30 924 006-0
cmo(at)probiogen.de
www.probiogen.de
Contact Zymeworks
Dr. David Poon
Sr. Director, External R&D and Alliances
Zymeworks Inc.
540-1385 West 8th Ave
Vancouver BC Canada V6H 3V9
Phone: +1 (604) 678-1388
info(at)zymeworks.com