BAC
signs license agreement with Hematech
Naarden, The Netherlands, 20th March 2008 – BAC BV, the Bio Affinity
Company, announced today that it has entered into a license and supply
agreement with Hematech, Inc., a subsidiary of Kirin Pharma that specialises
in the production of human antibodies in transgenic cows. The license covers
the use of a custom designed bovine IgG scavenging ligand which BAC had
previously developed for Hematech. GE Healthcare will immobilize the BAC
ligand on chromatographic media, which Hematech will use in the production of
polyclonal human IgG from its transgenic cow platform.
BAC’s CaptureSelect® ligand technology has applications in a wide range of
affinity processes, from the purification of monoclonal antibodies and
viruses, to plasma proteins. In addition to using the custom designed
scavenging ligands in their production process Hematech will also incorporate
IgSelect, an off-the-shelf GE Healthcare product that features BAC’s
CaptureSelect IgG ligand.
“We have previously worked with Hematech to discover and develop the bovine
IgG scavenging ligand and we are very pleased to continue this collaboration
into a supply phase,” said Laurens Sierkstra, CEO of BAC. “The success of this
project further demonstrates the suitability of our ligands for a wide variety
of applications and our ability to work in close partnership with
collaborators to deliver ligands that exactly meet requirements.”
“BAC’s technology has proven to be a great fit for our systems,” commented Dr.
James Robl, President and CSO of Hematech. “We are very excited about moving
this project forward and integrating the ligands into our production
processes.”
BAC’s CaptureSelect ligand technology is based on unique Camelid single chain
antibody fragments, which can be selected for desirable chromatographic
characteristics and produced at high-titre in a proprietary S. cerevisiae
strain. The CaptureSelect ligands are suitable and available for use in
commercial scale biomanufacturing and for bench research.
-Ends-
About BAC
BAC BV – the Bio Affinity Company – offers a wide range of products and
services for affinity purification of biological materials from complex media.
The Company’s proprietary CaptureSelect® affinity ligands, based on Camelid
single chain antibody fragments, have been proven to be suitable in a wide
range of biological applications including Life Science Research and
Biomanufacturing.
CaptureSelect® ligand technology is based on selection of single chain
antibody fragments with desirable chromatographic characteristics including
robustness, high specificity and flexibility. Suitable ligands are cloned and
expressed in high-titers through an animal-free Saccharomyces cerevisiae-based
process.
BAC BV was established in 1995 as a Unilever subsidiary. Currently the Company
employs 28 people with an R&D laboratory facility in Vlaardingen and a
state-of-the-art ISO 9001 certified manufacturing plant in Naarden, the
Netherlands. For more information about BAC, visit our website at www.bac.nl.
For more information about CaptureSelect® products, visit our website at
www.captureselect.com
Media enquiries:
Kathryn Robertson, College Hill
Kathryn.Robertson@collegehill.com
Tel: +44 (0)1260 296 506
