Selexis says KBI collaboration offers ‘gene to GMP’ in 10 months
The agreement looks to prepare Pelican’s proprietary immunotherapy candidates – PTX-35 and PTX-15 – for first-in-human clinical trials through the use of Selexis’ SUREtechnology expression platform used to insert genes into CHO cells and other mammalian cell lines.
While financial terms were not disclosed, Yemi Onakunle, VP of Licensing and Business Development at Selexis, told us Pelican took an option to obtain a non-exclusive worldwide license to use the Selexis-generated cell lines and his firm will receive an upfront fee, milestones and royalties on sales.
He added Pelican will also work with contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) KBI Biopharma “to establish a manufacturing process based on the Selexis-generated cell lines. This includes cGMP manufacturing to produce drug substance in support of preclinical and clinical development.”
In June, Selexis was acquired by JSR Life Sciences, the bioprocessing arm of Japan’s JSR Corporation which also owns KBI Biopharma.
The two firms have a long history of partnering on behalf of their partners – KBI has performed development and/or manufacturing services using more than 15 different Selexis-generated cell lines since 2012.
But Onakunle said being part of the same parent company brings “expanded capabilities and highly accelerated timelines,” along with “significant cost savings for new and existing customers and industry partners.”
He continued: “The combined Selexis/KBI best-in-class capabilities allows partners to go from ‘Gene to GMP,’ DNA to clinical drug substance, in approximately 10 months for well understood molecules such as monoclonal antibodies.
“Again, this combined offering gives partners the highest quality product with predictable and exceedingly fast timelines with minimal operational risk.”
