NEWS
Prokarium acquires oral vaccine technology from Emergent BioSolutions
Prokarium Ltd, a spin-out from biologics manufacturer Cobra Biologics, has completed a technology acquisition from Emergent BioSolutions Inc including Emergent’s live Salmonella-based typhoid vaccine TyphellaTM and its genetic technology spi-VECTM. Prokarium will combine Typhella and spi-VEC with its proprietary genetic and formulation technologies to form VaxonellaTM, a new oral vaccine delivery platform.
Emergent has conducted several Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials that have shown Typhella to be safe and immunogenic as a typhoid vaccine. The combination with Prokarium’s plasmid stabilisation technology ORT-VACTM will enable the delivery of recombinant protein vaccines without needles or adjuvants. Prokarium plans to offer this platform to biotech companies on a licensing basis. Prokarium will focus on the development of a dual oral vaccine against typhoid and ETEC .
GSK to acquire Human Genome Sciences
GlaxoSmithKline and Human Genome Sciences have entered into a definitive agreement under which GSK will acquire HGS for $14.25 per share in cash. The transaction values HGS at about $3.6 billion on an equity basis, or about $3 billion net of cash and debt, and represents a premium of 99% to the HGS closing price of $7.17 per share on 18 April 2012, the last day of trading before HGS publicly disclosed
GSK’s initial private offer. The Boards of Directors of both companies have approved the transaction.
GSK says the transaction is well aligned with its long-term strategy of delivering sustainable growth, simplifying its business model, enhancing R&D returns and deploying capital with discipline. Through complete ownership of BENLYSTA, albiglutide and darapladib, GSK
says it will be able to simplify and optimise R&D, commercial and manufacturing operations to advance the products effectively and efficiently while securing the full potential long-term value of the assets.
The company expects to achieve at least $200 million in cost synergies to be fully realised by 2015, subject to appropriate consultation, and expects the transaction to be accretive to core earnings beginning in 2013.
RSC award for Prof Stefan Przyborski of Reinnervate Ltd
Professor Stefan Przyborski, CSO and founder of Reinnervate Ltd, has been received the Rita and John Cornforth Award 2012 from the Royal Society of Chemistry recognising his leadership and interdisciplinary work at the boundaries of physical chemistry and biology by developing the Alvetex® Scaffold for three dimensional (3D) cell culture. For the past 10 years, Prof Przyborski’s work at the University of Durham and as CSO of Reinnervate Ltd has led to the development and commercialisation of solutions for scientists who wish to culture cells in a way that better mimics the in-vivo growth of cells. The
scientific team at Reinnervate now provides the global scientific community with Alvetex® Scaffold 3D cell culture protocols and application guides in areas such as 3D cancer cell biology, stem cell science, in-vitro skin modelling and 3D liver cell toxicity testing.
Alvetex®Scaffold is a unique polystyrene material that provides a robust and inert scaffold for cells to grow and form complex 3D structures in the laboratory, mimicking the normal growth and formation of tissues in the body. Reinnervate has extensively tested and validated the technology with a large number of cell types,
RSC award recipient: Prof Przyborski of Reinnervate Ltd. including liver, skin, cancer and stem cells, all of which have important applications in basic research into cell development, disease modelling and drug safety screening.
Peptisyntha and Peptides International form global partnership
Peptisyntha and Peptides International have entered into a global partnership for the production of research-grade peptide active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). As a result, customers will benefit from access to the combined research and manufacturing expertise from both companies as well as seamless transition from research level to commercial manufacturing. Key to the partnership is saving time and costs to customers by providing a seamless progression and transfer of technical information from peptide candidate screening to development.
Peptides International, under the leadership of Dr Michael Pennington, has custom peptide synthesis expertise across a wide range of technologies ranging from multi-disulfide peptides to multi-step organic synthesis. The company also offers an extensive portfolio of building blocks and other peptide synthesis tools and its activities have recently been certified to ISO 9001:2008 standards. The company has its headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, USA and specialises in manufacturing and distributing high-purity biologically active peptides, enzyme substrates and inhibitors, innovative polymers
and related products, and custom synthesis services to major corporations and research institutions globally. Peptisyntha has over the years developed and demonstrated extensive expertise in the design of cost-effective peptide manufacturing processes and in the cGMP production of clinical and commercial peptide APIs. Its facilities have had numerous successful FDA and EMEA inspections and offer a full range of solid phase, liquid phase, and hybrid synthesis capabilities. The company is a leading cGMP manufacturer of therapeutic peptides (peptide APIs) and
peptidomimetics serving customers from the pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostic and cosmetic industries. With 25 years of experience in peptide manufacturing Peptisyntha provides a seamless portfolio of expertise from lead optimisation to commercial cGMP manufacturing. With two GMP manufacturing facilities in the USA and Belgium, Peptisyntha has expertise in SPPS, LPPS and hybrid manufacturing technologies at all scales. Peptisyntha is a wholly owned company of international chemical group Solvay.
July/August 2012 sp2 Inter-Active 9
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