The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded the firm’s DuPont Industrial Biosciences division a grant to support development of production systems for protein-based medicines, with a particular focus on scalable manufacturing platforms.
Division president William F. Feehery said: “We cannot underestimate the complexity of this challenge. At the same time, we cannot turn our backs on the possibility of improving access and affordability of life-saving medications for communities around the world.
“This is cutting-edge science. We are honoured to work with a leading organization like The Gates Foundation to tackle this type of issue, as no one company or entity can get there on their own.”
DuPont is one of a number of companies the Gates Foundation has tasked with lowering the cost of making large molecule drugs.
Last week, the Foundation granted Belgian technology firm Univercells - and consortium partners Batavia Biosciences and Natrix Separations - $12m (€12.5m) to develop a vaccine production platform.
DuPont is due to merge with Dow Chemical under a deal announced in late 2015.
Previously the aim was to complete the merger by the end of this year. However, in October the firms said completion would likely be delayed until early 2017.