GE and iBio expand plant production alliance !!!!!!!

 Published on 07/08/12 at 11:38am GE Healthcare and iBio have forged an alliance to commercialise plant-based technologies for the manufacture of biologic drugs and vaccines.The two companies have worked together on the platform since 2010, with iBio contributing its iBioLaunch plant cell culture technologies and GE Healthcare providing expertise in bioprocessing and biomanufacturing.iBioLaunch takes the form of a proprietary gene expression technology that can be used to create plant cell cultures which produce high levels of proteins.The aim of the latest phase of the collaboration is to develop a single, flexible facility which could significantly reduce the capital and operating costs of biotherapeutic and vaccine manufacture compared with traditional animal cell and microbial based methods, according to the two partners. iBio said its longstanding technical partner for iBioLaunch - the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology (CMB) - will continue to play a key role in advancing the project.The platform also has the potential "to manufacture proteins which cannot be commercially produced in any other system," said the two companies, adding that the system relies on unmodified plants which are engineered to transiently produce the target protein.Advantages of the system over other technologies - including production in transgenic plants - include rapid production times and no need for costly bioreactors, as well as a low risk of contamination by animal pathogens.The platform has already been used successfully to manufacture a pandemic influenza vaccine in a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which cleared a Phase I trial earlier this year.It has also shown proof-of-concept in the manufacture of a number of biotherapeutics, including the active ingredient in Medimmune's respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) treatment Synagis (palivizumab), which is currently making sales of around $900 million a year. Olivier Loeillot, general manager of enterprise solutions at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said the two companies are aiming to bring "affordable and flexible manufacturing capabilities to the producers of vital, lifesaving medicines."We look forward to continuing our work with the talented teams at iBio and CMB to explore how this innovative technology could become a commercial reality," he added.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.Phil Taylor