ProBioGen (service and technology provider for complex therapeutic glycoproteins) and Pionyr Immunotherapeutics (an immune-oncology company developing next generation antibody-based therapeutics) have initiated a second immune-oncology contract development and manufacturing project.
Handshake agreement
Under the terms of the agreement, ProBioGen will perform process development and GMP manufacturing on a second antibody from the Pionyr pipeline using their CHO.RIGHT expression platform. Through parallel cell line development and analysis cell line selection will be performed in a compressed development timeline, enabling an accelerated advance to clinical trials.
“We developed a strong collaboration with Pionyr Immunotherapeutics on their initial antibody candidate, and we are enthusiastic about advancing a second antibody candidate into development,” explained Dr René Brecht, VP Process Science and Manufacturing, ProBioGen. “We consider Pionyr’s Myeloid Tuning approach to be ideally suited to target solid tumours and look forward to contributing to multiple programmes with our CHO.RiGHT development and manufacturing platform. We have established a seamless team working across the two companies and are very pleased to expand our collaboration.”
“Pionyr is developing a novel class of antibody-based therapeutics that can alter the tumour microenvironment to favour immune-activating cells over immune-suppressing cells,” added Evan Greger, PionyrVP of Process Development and CMC. “After establishing a collaboration with ProBioGen in 2017 to advance our first Myeloid Tuning candidate into cell line development and clinical trials, we are enthusiastic to continue our partnership and advance a second antibody candidate. ProBioGen is an outstanding partner with well-respected development and manufacturing services. The CHO.RiGHT expression platform, combined with their experienced, committed team, is ideally suited for the rapid and successful advancement of our antibody programmes into clinical trials.”