The Swedish biotech company Xbrane Bioscience and the San Diego based
biotech company Vaxiion Therapeutics, Inc. have announced that they have
reached a licensing arrangement granting Xbrane Bioscience rights to
Vaxiion’s proprietary protein production system – the Rhamex System™.
The agreement enables Xbrane Bioscience to distribute and sell the
protein expression system for both research and commercial purposes in
addition to utilizing the system for their in-house protein production
services business.
“The pharma industry expresses a great need for efficient and
cost-effective methods for production of proteins. Proteins are the
basis in half of all new drugs and proteins are crucial tools in drug
discovery. The problem is that some proteins are very difficult and
expensive to produce. The Rhamex System™ is a
bacterial-based protein production system that has the ability to
express larger amounts of host-toxic and active proteins than many other
systems. We think the Rhamex System™ may be
able to solve many problems for the industry,” explains Jan-Willem
de Gier, Ph.D., Chief Technical Officer at Xbrane Bioscience.
Protein expression in the Rhamex System™ is
tightly regulated at the individual cell level via rhamnose induction
and enables production of high yields of more bioactive and correctly
folded proteins per production run. The mechanism of induction allows
for slower, more uniform production of proteins compared to the
all-or-nothing induction mechanisms characteristic of other systems. The Rhamex
System™ commonly uses the gram-negative
bacteria E. coli as production host cell but is amenable to use
in other gram-negative hosts. Bacterial systems for protein production
are favored by many companies because of their economical advantages and
user friendliness.
“We have developed a versatile system for the overexpression
of proteins in bacteria that will appeal to researchers and
manufacturers that want better control over protein expression. Vaxiion
has been using this system internally for years in our research and
product development activities to circumvent the deficiencies of other
commercially available bacterial expression systems in expressing
host-toxic proteins. Xbrane Bioscience is a strategic partner that we
have the utmost confidence in as to their ability to quickly bring this
technology to market,” said Matthew J. Giacalone, Ph.D.,
Associate Director of Business Development at Vaxiion Therapeutics.
Xbrane Bioscience is a spin-off from the Centre for Biomembrane
Research, at Stockholm University. The company develops and
commercializes platforms for efficient and cost-effective production of
proteins and vaccines.
“We aim to help companies improve their protein production using the
Rhamex System™ and our extensive knowledge
about expression of host-toxic proteins. The Rhamex System™
is a complement to our existing product – Xbrane Lemo System™ and an
important step in our growth strategy. We have high expectations for
this system and are very happy that we now can launch the Rhamex System™
to the global market,” says Maria Alriksson, CEO at Xbrane
Bioscience.
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