Reaxa spins out specialist antibody-drug conjugate unit
pharmafile | October 19, 2010 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â Mylotarg, Reaxa, antibody-drug conjugatesÂ
UK company Reaxa is spinning out a new company called ADC Biotechnology to develop and commercialise an improved purification technology for antibody-based drugs which could cut manufacturing costs.
As its name suggests, ADCB’s main area of operations will be the development of separation technologies for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), one of the most anticipated new areas in the biopharmaceutical market.
An ADC takes the form of an antibody that is linked to a small-molecule drug – often a cytotoxic agent – in order to provide a more potent activity and fewer side effects than non-targeted chemotherapy.
The first, and still the only, ADC to reach the market is Pfizer’s acute myelogenous leukaemia treatment Mylotarg (gemtuzumab ozogamicin) in 2000, although the company decided to withdraw it earlier this year after questions were raised about its safety and effectiveness.
The segment is still in its infancy, but Reaxa estimates that it could develop into a $1 billion market by 2015, given that there are five ADCs coming through the latter stages of development and 15 more in early-stage clinical trials.
Examples include Seattle Genetics and Millennium Pharmaceuticals’ brentuximab vedotin for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, as well as TDM1, an ADC version of Roche’s HER2 breast cancer-targeting antibody trastuzumab in development with ImmunoGen.
ADCB will make use of an intellectual property portfolio licensed from Reaxa and intends to have a prototype purification system for ADCs ready for licensing within two years.
The technology will rely on a proprietary ‘bind-and-release’ process using solid polymer beads, rather than process solution and filtration, said the company. The benefits will come from fewer, faster process steps and ability to use smaller plant and containment capacity, which in turn should provide savings on capital costs and speed up production.
Commenting on the spin-out, Dr Pete Jackson, ADC Biotechnology’s chairman and chief executive of Reaxa, said: “The ability to access enhanced purification processes through in-licensing proven technology will be attractive for both in-house and contract manufacturing.”
Reaxa’s core business is the development and sale of catalysts used to synthesise and purify pharmaceutical molecules, and the spin-out of ADCB follows the sale to Johnson Matthey earlier this year of the firm’s pharma metal scavenging business.
Phil Taylor
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