Novozymes, Almac Ally To Offer Drug Targeting, Pharmacokinetics Service

Novozymes Biopharma is teaming up with Almac to provide a combined service for drug development applications in the field of drug targeting and pharmacokinetic improvements. The collaboration will allow clients to use Almac's manufacturing assets and protein conjugation capability to link Novozymes' Recombumin® Flex technology to their peptide and small molecule drugs, which the firms say improves pharmacokinetics and has been shown to improve drug targeting in oncology and rheumatoid arthritis. Collaborations with commercial partners have reportedly already begun, and the companies hope collaborations will continue to expand in early 2014.

Novozymes says that its Recombumin Flex technology will be this collaboration's focal point. Novozymes modified the amino acid sequence of human albumin to increase its receptor affinity, which the firm says not only can improve half-life extension and drug targeting, but complements Almac's peptide and small molecule manufacturing expertise and could also be allied to its protein conjugation technology offerings. 

"This alliance has clear benefits for companies involved in both drug development and delivery technologies: a complete service can be recommended utilizing the core expertise of both parties at an early stage of clinical development, thus significantly enhancing the success of drug development programs," Denis Geffroy, vp, business development for Almac, said in a statement.

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