Philogen enters into a Service and Supply Agreement with IBSA for the GMP Production of a Therapeutic Protein
Siena, Italy, 28th June 2023 – Philogen S.p.A (BIT: PHIL) today announced that it has entered into a Service and Supply Agreement with IBSA (Institut Biochimique SA) to produce a recombinant therapeutic protein at Philogen GMP Facilities in Siena (Italy).
Philogen owns a GMP production facility in Montarioso (Siena, Italy) which is authorized and operational for the manufacturing of investigational therapeutic proteins in mammalian cells. The facility has been formally certified by AIFA since 2004 and is subject to strict regulatory and manufacturing requirements. It features fermenters ranging from 30- to 200-liters, thus providing a flexible approach to manufacturing, depending on the quantity of product needed by the client. Pharmaceuticals manufactured at the Montarioso Facility have been used in clinical trials in several European Countries (Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Spain, Denmark, U.K., The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland) and in the United States.
Philogen has also recently constructed a second, larger, state-of-the art GMP facility in Rosia (Siena, Italy), which is devised to manufacture biologics for commercial and investigational purposes. The facility features the most advanced technical equipment, including a 200-liter fermentation unit, identical to the one in Montarioso.
Prof. Dr. Dario Neri, CEO and CSO of Philogen, commented: “We are pleased to establish a new collaboration with IBSA, a leading multinational pharmaceutical company. Philogen uses its production facilities both to manufacture its own proprietary products and to run GMP lots for third parties. Our recent investments in both the Montarioso and Rosia plants have strengthened our position as a leading company in manufacturing recombinant biologics in mammalian cells in Italy.”
***
About Philogen group
Philogen is an Italian-Swiss company active in the biotechnology sector, specialized in the research and development of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of highly lethal diseases. The Group mainly discovers and develops targeted anticancer drugs, exploiting high-affinity ligands for tumor markers (also called tumor antigens). These ligands - human monoclonal antibodies or small organic molecules - are identified using Antibody Phage Display Libraries and DNA-Encoded Chemical Library technologies.
The Group's main therapeutic strategy for the treatment of these diseases is represented by the so-called tumor targeting. This approach is based on the use of ligands capable of selectively delivering very potent therapeutic active ingredients (such as pro-inflammatory cytokines) to the tumor mass, sparing healthy tissues. Over the years, Philogen has mainly developed monoclonal antibody-based ligands that are specific for antigens expressed in tumor-associated blood vessels, but not expressed in blood vessels associated with healthy tissues. These antigens are usually more abundant and more stable than those expressed directly on the surface of tumor cells. This approach, so called vascular targeting, is used for most of the projects pursued by the Group.