Under the new partnership – financial terms of which were not disclosed – Selexis will provide mammalian CHO cell line development after which Cook will provide process development, manufacturing and final packaging services.
The firms have already completed a 9-month pilot project for the production of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) in which they achieved titres of more than 3.5g per litre in 20l bioreactors according to Cook chief scientific officer, Vic Vinci.
“These preliminary data from the proof-of-concept confirmed our ability in this case study to create a reliable process for the transfer and scale-up of a high expressing, stable clonal cell line, via a technology platform approach, that yielded commercial-ready titers with minimal development under the conditions of the study.”
He added that: “In addition to this proof-of-concept program, we are very experienced in working with Selexis cell lines and are excited to be collaborating more with the Selexis team in the near future.”
Protein expression
Selexis’ cell line development business focus on its Suretechnology platform, which is a system used to insert genes into CHO cells and other mammalian cell lines for biopharmaceutical applications.
The technology – which uses novel DNA-based elements to control the dynamic organization of chromatin within all mammalian cells and allow for higher and more stable expression of recombinant proteins – is being used in a variety of programs from drug discovery to late-stage clinical trials.
Selexis' cell line laboratory and production capacity are based at a facility in Geneva, Switzerland, which also houses protein purification technology unit for the production of development-scale batches.