Ingenza’s Synbiopro project for the development of biopharmaceuticals continues to make progress, despite the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company says.
The company has committed over £4.3m in a programme to establish the platform in a cGMP environment. As part of this, it has been using the £1.4m grant from Scottish Enterprise to establish pilot projects for a number of biologics over the past two years, including recombinant factor VIII for the treatment of haemophilia A, and synthetic epidermicin, a novel peptide antimicrobial.
In addition, Ingenza has been working with researchers at Oxford University and the UK CPI, Wilton, using its knowhow to cost-effectively produce the receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in large quantities with the aim of enabling and accelerating COVID-19 vaccine development.
Dr David McElroy, Chief Business Officer of Ingenza, commented: “We are delighted that Scottish Enterprise recognised the value of this project to the Scottish bio-economy and wider biotechnology industry. Its funding has helped to establish a strong body of evidence to support the use of our synthetic biology approach for the production of biotherapeutics, allowing us to compete in the growing biologics manufacturing market.”
Richie Connor, Account Manager at Scottish Enterprise, said: “It has been a pleasure to support Ingenza with this R&D project, and to see the excellent progress the company has made over the past two years, including recent work on a potential vaccine for COVID-19. We have a long-standing relationship with the company, and continue to be impressed by its ability to diversify and innovate, creating solutions to improve health and wellbeing.”
