Novozymes Biopharma Collaborates With University to Tailor the Half-Lives of Proteins
Novozymes Biopharma, part of Novozymes A/S, a world leader in bioinnovation, recently unveiled its enhanced next-generation albumin technology, which was developed in collaboration with the University of Oslo, Norway, one of the world’s leading institutions in the research of albumin variants and the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn).
Built on Novozymes’ original Albufuse platform, the proprietary Albufuse Flex technology has been designed to enable users to adapt and control the pharmacokinetics of their target protein or peptide with retained efficacy, ensuring flexibility and optimal use.
“Novozymes Biopharma is thrilled to introduce Albufuse Flex to the industry,” said Dave Mead, Business Development Director at Novozymes Biopharma. “Albumin is a natural and benign carrier molecule, and by having the unique ability to decrease or increase its half-life it will help our customers to develop novel drugs with improved pharmacokinetic properties for a wide range of applications.”
It has been shown that by manipulating the interaction of albumin and IgGs with FcRn it is possible to tailor their half-lives. The Albufuse Flex technology has been developed to facilitate manipulation based on this FcRn-albumin interaction, enabling a tunable half-life that offers control and flexibility and that, potentially, may improve overall treatment efficacy and patient compliance. In addition to protein- or peptide-based drugs, the enhanced technology also provides a delivery vehicle for small molecules, providing a broad scope of usability.
The enhanced half-life technology has been developed by Novozymes in collaboration with scientists at the
“The efficacy of peptides, small proteins, and engineered antibody fragments is hampered by short serum half-life,” explained Professor Inger Sandlie, Group Leader at the Norwegian Centre of Excellence for Immune Regulation. “Therefore, strategies to tailor their serum persistence and biodistribution are needed. The unique Albufuse Flex technology solves this problem and will result in enhanced treatment efficacy, more favorable dosing regimes, and improved patient compliance.”
“The successful development of the Albufuse Flex technology illustrates the importance of industry and academic collaboration in turning scientific excellence into products that address medical needs. Novozymes has been an outstanding partner throughout the development process, and the company truly understands the potential of our academic science,” adds Dr Jorund Sollid, Inven2 AS, the University Technology Transfer Office.
Novozymes is a world leader in bioinnovation. Together with customers across a broad array of industries, it creates tomorrow’s industrial biosolutions, improving customers’ business and the use of the planet’s resources. With over 700 products used in 130 countries, Novozymes’ bioinnovations improve industrial performance and safeguard the world’s resources by offering superior and sustainable solutions for tomorrow’s ever-changing marketplace.
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