Sirion teams with Vibalogics to offer AAV services
Under the agreement, Sirion will provide the adeno-associated virus (AAV) technology – used in the development of viral vectors in gene therapy – and Vibalogics will act as its production partner for customers ready to progress to clinical trials.
Sirion founder Christian Thirion said he observed a growing demand from gene therapy companies for AAV-related services.
“This step will allow us to offer one of the most versatile and complete AAV services packages in the world and meet demand for a more streamlined development and supply process,” he said.
Quality control
The firms will collaborate to establish ‘good manufacturing practice (GMP)-like’ quality levels for pre-clinical virus batches.
According to Vibalogics’ head of business development John Shaw, this will help biopharmaceutical firms improve speed and reduce cost.
“The process will be designed with GMP in mind and will be platform based, so other virus candidates can be inserted into the process easily,” he told us.
“It also means that the customer can address any productivity issues early in the process and can trust our ability to scale up later in GMP,” he added.
Vector yield
Shaw said he expects the partnership to produce higher vector yields.
“We predict the process will produce significantly higher yields than standard processes, which should be sufficient to comfortably drive a preclinical project,” he told us.
The AAV services will be available from the beginning of 2018.
