Spinout News / UCLB News

Novozymes Biopharma to offer drug-albumin conjugation platform in collaboration with UCLB spinout ThioLogics

14 May 2014

ThioLogics, a UCL Business company, spun-out of the UCL Department of Chemistry has entered into a new collaboration with Novozymes Biopharma.

The collaboration brings together Novozymes’ modified recombinant human albumin (rAlbumin) Veltis technology with ThioLogics’ site-specific next generation maleimide conjugation platform. This allows Novozymes to offer the pharma industry serum stable albumin drug conjugates with enhanced pharmacokinetic and/or targeting capabilities.

As part of the partnership, Novozymes’ customers will be given valuable access to conjugation specialists, providing assurance that they will receive the highest level of support to design stable and efficacious drug candidates.

Combining the benefits of Novozymes’ and ThioLogics’ technology platforms means that we can now work with more customers across a wider range of drug candidates,” says Dermot Pearson, Marketing Director at Novozymes Biopharma. He continues, “Together we are creating new opportunities for customers by providing them with a single access point to link Novozymes’ Veltis albumins and ThioLogics’ conjugation platform, to improve their products.

Exclusively marketed through Novozymes Biopharma, the collaboration will allow Novozymes to apply its technology to molecules that are not amenable to a genetic fusion approach, such as synthesized peptides and small molecules in oncology and rheumatoid arthritis. Combining the advantages of the two technologies will enable the versatile modification of these therapeutic molecules to yield well-defined, stable and consistent conjugates.

We are delighted to announce ThioLogics’ unique collaboration with Novozymes, which will expand the capabilities of our technology platform beyond antibody-drug conjugates,” comments Dr Chris Williams, Business Development Manager at ThioLogics.

Professor Stephen Caddick, one of the Founders of ThioLogics and Vice-Provost (Enterprise) at UCL said, “For the first time, the linking of our two platforms will make well-defined and stable albumin conjugation a reality, providing manufacturers with serum stable drug conjugates with tailored pharmacokinetics to maximize the therapeutic potential of their products.

Combining the Veltis platform with ThioLogics’ next generation maleimide technology, in addition to Novozymes recently announced partnership with Almac, provides Veltis with a strong position in the field of drug conjugation and supports the use of the technology in peptide and protein fusion.

About Novozymes
Novozymes is the world leader in bioinnovation. Together with customers across a broad array of industries, they create tomorrow’s industrial biosolutions, improving their customers’ business and the use of our planet’s resources. Novozymes Biopharma develops and manufactures high-quality, safe, biological based ingredients and technologies to provide pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers the knowledge-based solutions needed to address the challenges in developing innovative, safer, and more consistent final products. By combining their unique knowledge around recombinant albumin, half-life extension and hyaluronic acid with the specific application knowledge of their customers, Novozymes is committed to working with companies to deliver improved performance and safety for next-generation of medical device and pharmaceutical products.

Read more at www.novozymes.com

About Thiologics
Thiologics is a UCL Business PLC (UCLB) wholly owned company spun-out of UCL Chemistry.  The company aims to commercialise new bioconjugation technologies developed in the laboratories of Professor Stephen Caddick and Dr James Baker. ThioLogics is particularly focused on delivering technology that will enable the construction of homogeneous antibody-drug conjugate therapeutics (ADCs).

For further information, please contact Dr Chris Williams, Business Development Manager, c.williams@thiologics.com or visit: www.ThioLogics.com

About UCL Business PLC
UCL Business PLC (UCLB) is a leading technology transfer company that supports and commercialises research and innovations arising from UCL, one of the UK’s top research-led universities. UCLB has a successful track record and a strong reputation for identifying and protecting promising new technologies and innovations from UCL academics. UCLB has a strong track record in commercialising medical technologies and provides technology transfer services to UCL’s associated hospitals; University College London Hospitals, Moorfields Eye Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Royal Free London Hospital. It invests directly in development projects to maximise the potential of the research and manages the commercialisation process of technologies from laboratory to market.

For further information, please visit: www.uclb.com