Plant Research International B.V. and The Dow Chemical Company (San Diego, CA) have agreed to join forces to speed development of therapeutic proteins with mammalian-like glycan structures in transgenic plants. Through their collaboration, the companies will work to expand the utility of plant-based production for pharmaceutical proteins.
Plant Research International was among the first to recognize the perspectives of the principle of using plants as a "factory" of special compounds. The institute invested in this concept, which resulted in new technologies and other innovative products with various applications. Through the agreement with Dow, Plant Research International enters the market of pharmaceutical R&D groups.
The agreement calls for Dow and Plant Research International to share their intellectual property estates in the field of glycosylated protein production plants and also involves a multi-year collaborative research program focused on further optimising protein glycosylation in plant systems.
"Dow is delighted to be working with Plant Research International, an innovative leader in glycoprotein optimization in plants", said Kurt Hoeprich, Director of Market Development for Dow Plant-Based Biopharmaceuticals. "By optimizing glycoprotein production in plants, we can greatly expand the applicability of this new production platform in the rapidly growing biopharmaceutical marketplace. This agreement fits in our strategy to align key technology leaders toward fulfilling the promise of plant-based approaches to drug substance supply. Beyond overcoming the well-reported capacity limitations in the biopharmaceutical industry, a plant-based approach also holds the potential to lower capital and operating costs"
According to industry research by a financial analyst from U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, Inc., approximately 100 therapeutic proteins are now in mid-to-late stage clinical development. Potential manufacturing capacity shortages are leading pharmaceutical companies to consider plant-based production techniques.
Dirk Bosch, group leader at Plant Research International explains: "We are very pleased with this excellent match of Dow's proprietary expression technologies and biopharmaceutical protein processing expertise with Plant Research Internationals proven, integrated R&D capabilities for biosynthetic pathway engineering and protein analysis. This agreement will accelerate scientific developments at our institute and will place us in a position to generate additional technological breakthroughs relevant to therapeutic protein production. In a broader perspective, we will improve our understanding of biosynthetic pathways in plants and the functioning of enzymes involved in such pathways. This will contribute to our goal of developing the concepts of plants as green factories as well as the use of plant enzymes in manufacturing processes of valuable compounds, also to benefit the pharmaceutical industry."
About Dow Plant-Based Biopharmaceuticals
Dow Plant-Based Biopharmaceuticals is a single source development and manufacturing partner for production of complex therapeutic proteins using plant-based technology. Technologies and capabilities for every development and production step are available: plant transformation, scale up, crop growth and harvest, extraction of target protein, and purification of the bulk drug substance. Dow currently has a pipeline of client biopharmaceutical products in various stages of production, using plant transgenic technology in an effort to overcome capacity limitations with lower capital and operating costs, a faster route to production and simpler downstream processing.
About Dow
Dow is a leading science and technology company that provides innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $28 billion, Dow serves customers in more than 170 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress, including food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of Sustainable Development, Dow and its approximately 50,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental, and social responsibilities. For more information visit: www.dow.com.
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