AbSci aims to tackle the antibody market after raising $12m to scale E. coli-based tech
The Vancouver, WA-based company AbSCi develops protein production technologies for the biopharmaceutical industry.
The company’s recent financing round was led by Asahi Glass Co., the parent company of the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) AGC Biologics. Dr. Gustavo Mahler, AGC Biologics president and CEO, will join AbSci’s Board of Directors as part of the financing.
The investment will enable AbSci to scale capacity and further develop its synthetic biology platform SoluPro, which is based on genetically engineered E. coli and plasmids. The platform is used to discover and manufacture biological molecules, including antibodies, bispecifics, fc-fusions, and insulin.
The company's technology can provide biomanufacturers with more than a tenfold increase in plant capacity while decreasing costs up to 80%, Sean McClain, AbSci founder and CEO, told us.
The SoluPro platform speeds the time to market “by accelerating and cutting out steps entirely from the drug discovery and clinical development process,” he said.
The platform also scales for commercial production, eliminating 6 to 12 months of cell-line development, McClain explained. At scale, SoluPro creates “breakthrough efficiencies in biomanufacturing, eliminating the need for large plant builds and reducing drug costs,” he added.
The company currently is working with manufacturers to reduce the cost of insulin, which McClain said is one of the company’s “most significant and rapidly expanding markets.”
"AbSci aims to tackle the antibody market, which includes many of today's most innovative yet most expensive drugs, such as Humira and Herceptin,” he added.
“AbSci wants to speed up innovation, drive down manufacturing costs, and make these cutting-edge drugs more accessible and affordable to patients.”
