Xbrane Bioscience signs licensing arrangement with Vaxiion Therapeutics

The Swedish biotech company Xbrane Bioscience and the San Diego based biotech company Vaxiion Therapeutics, Inc. have announced that they have reached a licensing arrangement granting Xbrane Bioscience rights to Vaxiion’s proprietary protein production system – the Rhamex System^™. The agreement enables Xbrane Bioscience to distribute and sell the protein expression system for both research and commercial purposes in addition to utilizing the system for their in-house protein production services business.

“The pharma industry expresses a great need for efficient and cost-effective methods for production of proteins. Proteins are the basis in half of all new drugs and proteins are crucial tools in drug discovery. The problem is that some proteins are very difficult and expensive to produce. The Rhamex System^™ is a bacterial-based protein production system that has the ability to express larger amounts of host-toxic and active proteins than many other systems. We think the Rhamex System^™ may be able to solve many problems for the industry,” explains Jan-Willem de Gier, Ph.D., Chief Technical Officer at Xbrane Bioscience.

Protein expression in the Rhamex System^™ is tightly regulated at the individual cell level via rhamnose induction and enables production of high yields of more bioactive and correctly folded proteins per production run. The mechanism of induction allows for slower, more uniform production of proteins compared to the all-or-nothing induction mechanisms characteristic of other systems. The Rhamex System^™ commonly uses the gram-negative bacteria E. coli as production host cell but is amenable to use in other gram-negative hosts. Bacterial systems for protein production are favored by many companies because of their economical advantages and user friendliness.

“We have developed a versatile system for the overexpression of proteins in bacteria that will appeal to researchers and manufacturers that want better control over protein expression. Vaxiion has been using this system internally for years in our research and product development activities to circumvent the deficiencies of other commercially available bacterial expression systems in expressing host-toxic proteins. Xbrane Bioscience is a strategic partner that we have the utmost confidence in as to their ability to quickly bring this technology to market,” said Matthew J. Giacalone, Ph.D., Associate Director of Business Development at Vaxiion Therapeutics.

Xbrane Bioscience is a spin-off from the Centre for Biomembrane Research, at Stockholm University. The company develops and commercializes platforms for efficient and cost-effective production of proteins and vaccines.

“We aim to help companies improve their protein production using the Rhamex System^™ and our extensive knowledge about expression of host-toxic proteins. The Rhamex System^™ is a complement to our existing product – Xbrane Lemo System™ and an important step in our growth strategy. We have high expectations for this system and are very happy that we now can launch the Rhamex System^™ to the global market,” says Maria Alriksson, CEO at Xbrane Bioscience.