CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH (CEVEC), the expert in the production of tailor-made recombinant glycoproteins and gene therapy vectors, today announced that the Company has been granted a patent for its expression technology CAP®Go entitled, “O-glycan sialylated recombinant glycoproteins and cell lines for producing the same,” by the Australian Patent Office.
The patent broadly protects genetically engineered cell lines for the production of O-glycosylated proteins with a significantly improved plasma half-life. Commercially relevant proteins which benefit from the new technology include: C1 esterase inhibitor (C1Inh), several blood coagulation factors, erythropoietin and others. Cevec has filed similar patent applications in other important markets around the world.
The new patent is related to CEVEC’s successful project to produce a recombinant C1Inh with a favorable pharmacokinetic profile. C1Inh, traditionally purified from human blood plasma, is a promising candidate for a variety of medical applications and already is in use for the treatment of a rare but life-threatening genetic disorder, hereditary angioedema (HAE). Due to deficiencies in their glycosylation pattern, recombinant C1Inh versions display a significantly shorter half-life than their plasma-derived counterparts. CEVEC successfully tackled this limitation by developing new glycosylation-optimized CAP®Go cells based on its proprietary human CAP® suspension cell platform, yielding a recombinant C1Inh with the desired pharmacokinetic profile.
“We are excited about the granting of this patent, as it constitutes another pillar of our strategy to establish CAP®Go as the industry standard for the production of difficult-to-express recombinant proteins,” commented Nico Scheer, Chief Business Officer of CEVEC. “With the expected granting of similar claims in other parts of the world and additional patent applications currently in our pipeline, we are further strengthening our leading role in addressing the increasing need for the efficient manufacturing of complex recombinant glycoproteins, and we are on track to take a dominant position in providing the most preferred solution for the production of recombinant proteins previously out of reach.”
Nicole Faust, CEVEC’s Chief Executive Officer & Chief Scientific Officer said: “The CAP®Go derived C1Inh and potential variants offer promising new opportunities for developing safer and more cost-effective treatments for HAE and other indications. The new patent protection increases the attractiveness for our partners utilizing the CAP®Go technology for production of C1Inh and other O-glycosylated proteins.”
About CEVEC:
CEVEC is a center of expertise for the production of biopharmaceuticals using a unique human cell-based expression system.
CAP-Go enables the production of proteins previously out of reach representing a significant proportion of the human proteome that is notoriously difficult to express in conventional cell lines such as CHO. The CAP-Go expression platform comprises a portfolio of glyco-optimized human suspension cell lines for the highly efficient production of a broad range of difficult to express recombinant proteins with authentic human post-translational modifications or on demand tailor made glycosylation patterns.
CAP-GT is a fully scalable manufacturing platform for viral vector production. CEVEC has successfully developed CAP-GT suspension cell-derived viral packaging cell lines which enable better scale-up and competitive production costs when compared to adherent cell culture systems. CAP-GT suspension cell lines grow to high cell densities and show excellent productivity for a broad range of viruses. Gene therapy vectors such as lentivirus (LV), adenovirus (AV) and adeno-associated virus (AAV) can be produced at industrial scale.)
Contact:
CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH
Dr. Nico Scheer
Chief Business Officer
T.:+49 221 46020800
E.: scheer@cevec.com
MC Services AG
Anne Hennecke
Public Relations
T.: +49 211 52925222
E.: anne.hennecke@mc-services.eu
