Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has entered into an agreement with US-headquartered biotech firm Pfenex Inc to jointly develop biosimilars in undisclosed therapeutic areas. Biosimilars are officially approved new versions of innovator biopharmaceutical products, following patent expiry. In crude terms, biosimilars can be termed as generic version of original biopharma products.
?Pfenex is eligible to receive maintenance fees, milestone payments as well as royalty payments on any product sales derived from the agreement,? Ranbaxy Laboratories said in a statement without divulging further details.
Ranbaxy and Pfenex scientists would collaborate to develop production strains and commercially manufacture biosimilar product. They will also join hands to build process that will be used to produce products. The biosimilar products will be be developed on ‘Pfenex Expression Technology’ platform, a technology that uses recombinant protein expression of bacteria, pseudomonas. “Within our overall bio-therapeutic plan, the Pfenex technology will enable Ranbaxy to develop a high quality, cost-effective product,” Ranbaxy CEO & MD Atul Sobti said.
In order to boost its biopharmaceutical business, Ranbaxy had acquired 45% stake in Hyderabad-based Zenotech Laboratories in 2007.
The Gurgaon-based company has maintained that it is looking at expanding its biosimilar portfolio.
“Pfenex currently has three biosimilar molecules at an advanced stage of process development. We are currently seeking co-development partners for these molecules and are looking to partner for new biosimilar programmes,” the San Deigo-based company discloses on its website.
In December, Pfenex Inc was formally spun-out of The Dow Chemical Company as an independent venture backed entity. The lead investor in the new company is Signet Healthcare Partners, a venture capital investor focused on the healthcare sector. ?We are pleased to be partnering with Ranbaxy,? Pfenex CEO Bertrand C Liang said. ?This collaboration is a great combination of the strength of Pfenex Expression Technology being leveraged for the cost effective production of biosimilars and Ranbaxy’s proven ability to develop and launch products globally,? he added.
