Geneva, Switzerland, December 9, 2014 – Selexis SA, a serial innovation company with proven technologies for biologic drug discovery and mammalian cell line development announced today that Selexis and Symphogen A/S have entered into a commercial license agreement and signed the continuation of their R&D license agreement. Symphogen has licensed the rights to the Selexis SUREtechnology Platform™ and SURE CHO-M Cell Line™ for the development of recombinant monoclonal antibody (MAb) mixtures for the treatment of various cancers and infectious diseases.
Symphogen has developed unique technologies for the controlled, reproducible production of highly characterized MAb mixtures manufactured in a single batch.
“The SUREtechnology platform is a perfect fit for Symphogen’s novel MAb mixture approach for a multi-targeted MAb therapeutic with a single administration,” said Dr. Igor Fisch, CEO, Selexis SA. “Our technology allows Symphogen to achieve consistent production levels of all the MAb-expressing clonal cell lines in the mixture with no compromise on quality nor on stability.”
The Selexis SUREtechnology Platform™ is based on Selexis Genetic Elements™ — novel human DNA-based elements that control the dynamic organization of chromatin across mammalian cells by increasing transcription rates of transgene, by rendering the expression cassette independent of the locus of integration and thus allowing higher and more stable expression of any recombinant proteins. The SUREtechnology Platform™ improves the way cells are used in the discovery, development and manufacturing of recombinant proteins.
The Selexis SURE CHO-M Cell Line™ is a proprietary high-performance mammalian cell line derived from CHO-K1 cells and used for the production of therapeutic recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies. The growth and production properties of the Selexis SURE CHO-M Cell Line™ are well defined, and the feed strategy optimized allowing faster and more efficient scale-up into bioreactors.
About Symphogen A/S
Symphogen is developing next-generation antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and is dedicated to bringing truly innovative oncology products to the market.
The Company has advanced the frontier of antibody discovery by creating well-characterized antibody mixtures that address multiple oncology targets in a single drug product. The Company has matured its oncology pipeline and has currently brought two product candidates into the clinic. The Company's productive technology suite - capable of identifying, selecting and manufacturing optimal antibody mixtures – fuels Symphogen's oncology pipeline.
In total, the Company has raised €249 million in equity capital from premier international investors including Novo, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures and PKA, and employs 100 people, most of whom are based at Symphogen's facilities in Copenhagen.