iBio Establishes Strategic Commercial Relationship with CC-Pharming Ltd. of Beijing, China
09 July 2018 - 10:00PM
iBio, Inc. (NYSE AMERICAN:IBIO) today announced the commencement of
a strategic commercial relationship with CC-Pharming Ltd. of
Beijing, China for joint development of products and manufacturing
facilities for the Chinese biopharmaceutical market, utilizing
iBio’s technology. The first product focus selected pursuant to the
Master Joint Development Agreement executed between iBio and
CC-Pharming will be a therapeutic antibody, with additional,
mutually selected products to be added to the venture as it
proceeds. Service fees payable to iBio for this first phase will be
approximately $4.7 million. iBio will provide process development
and manufacturing services at its Texas facility for initial
product development, and will assist CC-Pharming in facility design
and optimization for eventual manufacturing in China. CC-Pharming
will manage all operations in China with iBio participating through
joint ownership of the China business and ongoing collaboration.
“China’s biologics development and manufacturing infrastructure
is grossly inadequate for the massive population it must serve,”
said Robert B. Kay, iBio’s Chairman and CEO. “iBio’s technology and
its CDMO will enable immediate commencement of development and
manufacture of biologic products – such as bio-better therapeutic
antibody related to rituximab – and rapid economic development and
manufacture of other products to supply the China market.
CC-Pharming is an excellent partner for iBio due to the depth of
its expertise and the vision we share for bringing significant
product benefits of iBio’s technology and capabilities, combined
with those of CC-Pharming, to the people of China.”
The initial phase of the collaboration focuses on a monoclonal
therapeutic antibody product, a plant-derived bio-better rituximab.
Rituximab was first approved by the U.S. FDA in 1997 for
treatment of certain B cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Since that time,
its clinical uses have expanded to encompass treatment of a range
of autoimmune diseases including certain types of rheumatoid
arthritis. Rituximab has been placed on the World Health
Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, but despite the
development and approval of biosimilar versions, it is still too
expensive for many patients who could benefit from its use. iBio
and CC-Pharming are jointly pursuing the medical and business goal
of introducing a plant-made antibody superior to rituximab in
performance and more affordable than rituximab in price. “Our first
product selection is very important but is only the beginning of
what I believe CC-Pharming and iBio can do together with our
combined scientific approach to the business of
biopharmaceuticals,” said Dr. Kevin Wang, CC-Pharming’s Chairman
and Chief Scientific Officer. “I have evaluated many technologies
over many years, but I’ve never been as enthusiastic about any
process as I am about the approach we are undertaking with
iBio.”
“Our company is not only committed to developing innovative and
affordable plant-derived biologics but also to provide the best
protein production services to the area of pharmaceuticals Research
& Development (R&D). iBio’s superior Technology will help
CC-Pharming rapidly expand its product pipelines to meet the demand
of the market in China,” said Ms. Yujiao Chen, CC-Pharming’s Vice
President for International Business and Intellectual Property.
The companies expect to jointly select additional products for
development and joint exclusive sales in the territory of China
using iBio’s proprietary plant-based approach to provide
significant time advantages in early product development and
testing, and rapid and predictable scale up to commercial quantity
production. As demonstrated by the original design, development and
validation of iBio’s CDMO facility in Bryan, Texas, iBio’s
technology and know-how enable manufacturing facility development
with much lower capital expenditure and much shorter time to
validation than traditional animal cell methods. CC-Pharming
is the first company in China to adopt this transient expression
platform approach to manufacturing biopharmaceuticals.
About Dr. Kevin Yueju Wang
Kevin Yueju Wang, Ph.D., founder of CC-Pharming Ltd., has more
than twenty years of experience in the applied plant biotechnology
field. He led research teams at the Northeastern State University
using plant systems and cell culture to evaluate and produce
therapeutic pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other products to benefit
mankind. His research was supported by multiple grants from the
IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence and the National
Institutes of Health. He received numerous awards for his research
and has applied for over 30 patents in his work to build a bridge
between the fields of academics and industrial applications. Dr.
Wang received a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University,
and did postdoctoral research at the University of
California-Berkeley and University of Texas-Austin. He also
obtained research experience at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in
New York City. In 2017, Dr. Wang left his tenured faculty position
in the U.S. to create CC-Pharming in Beijing, applying plant
transient expression technology to produce biological
pharmaceuticals.
About Beijing CC-Pharming Ltd.
CC-Pharming is located in Zhongguancun Biomedical Engineering
Transformation Center, Shunyi District, Beijing, China. The company
is specialized in plant molecular medicine technology research and
product development using proprietary tobacco and lettuce transient
expression platforms, focusing on the use of plant bioreactors for
the development of animal-free, safe, high-value recombinant
protein and peptide product for industrial and clinical
applications. The Company develops innovative indoor vertical
farming system for efficient plant-based expression systems, and
offers therapeutic biomedicine, life science research, cosmetics,
and CRO/CMO services to clients in China. Further information is
available at: WWW.CC-PHARMING.COM About iBio,
Inc.
iBio, a leader in developing plant-based biopharmaceuticals,
provides a range of product and process development, analytical,
and manufacturing services at the large-scale development and
manufacturing facility of its subsidiary iBio CDMO, LLC. in Bryan,
Texas. The facility houses laboratory and cGMP pilot-scale
operations, as well as large-scale automated hydroponic systems for
plant production and downstream capacity capable of delivering
commercial quantities of recombinant protein pharmaceutical active
ingredients for therapeutic, vaccine, and diagnostic products.
iBio applies its technology for the benefit of its clients and
the advancement of its own product interests. The Company’s
pipeline is comprised of proprietary candidates for the treatment
of a range of fibrotic diseases including idiopathic pulmonary
fibrosis, systemic sclerosis, and scleroderma. IBIO-CFB03, based on
the Company's proprietary gene expression technology, is the
Company’s lead therapeutic candidate being advanced for IND
development.
Further information is available at: WWW.IBIOINC.COM
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INVOLVE A NUMBER OF RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES SUCH AS COMPETITIVE
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PROJECTS. FURTHER INFORMATION ON POTENTIAL RISK FACTORS THAT COULD
AFFECT THE COMPANY'S FINANCIAL RESULTS CAN BE FOUND IN THE
COMPANY'S REPORTS FILED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION.
ICR, Inc. (Investor and Media Inquiries)
Stephanie Carrington
Tel. +1 646-277-1282
STEPHANIE.CARRINGTON@ICRINC.COM
James Heins
Tel. +1 203-682-8251
JAMES.HEINS@ICRINC.COM
Source: iBio, Inc.
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