Amarna and TNO to collaborate on viral gene delivery technology

Collaboration

Dutch biotechnology company Amarna Therapeutics BV is to collaborate with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) to further develop Amarna’s viral gene delivery technology SVac.

Under the agreement, TNO will develop methods for the manufacture, formulation and testing of the SVac platform of Amarna and other viral gene delivery systems. The collaboration is partly supported by a co-financing initiative that aims to support innovative technologies.

Ben van Leent, CEO of Amarna Therapeutics, said, “The partnership with TNO enables us to initiate the first time in man clinical trials with one of our lead therapeutics in 2010.”

Menzo Havenga, Managing Director of Biosciences at TNO, said the partnership will allow TNO to expand its pre-clinical development services into viral vectors and gene delivery technologies. “[It] is yet another important step in our establishment of a fully integrated and highly innovative package of biopharmaceutical development capabilities.”

Armarna claims its SVac viral gene delivery vector platform has a number of unique properties when compared to lentiviral, poxviral, alphaviral, adenoviral and adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector systems. SVac is non-immunogenic, highly stable, safe to use and can be cost-effectively produced in large amounts in a proprietary producer cell line.