Lonza, a global leader in biological manufacturing and arGEN-X N.V., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focussed on creating and developing differentiated therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer and severe autoimmune diseases, have entered into a new, multi-product commercial licence agreement for the production of arGEN-X’s therapeutic antibodies. The license secures long-term access for arGEN-X and its strategic partners to Lonza’s proprietary GS Xceed System for creation and development of cell lines to be utilised in the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals.

“The initiation of the multi-product GS Xceed Licence Agreement allows both companies the flexibility to move forward to commercial production of arGEN-X products, both now and in the future”, says Karen Fallen, VP Head of Licencing, Lonza Custom Development Services.

“Over the past four years, we have developed an excellent working relationship with Lonza, as evidenced by this new license agreement.  The multi-product license strengthens the competitive positioning of our products and those of our sublicensees by optimising the pharmacoeconomics of the antibody development process,” says Tim Van Hauwermeiren, chief executive officer, of arGEN-X. “We look forward to continuing to develop and manufacture our pipeline of differentiated therapeutic antibody products and to offering the benefits of this new license to our strategic partners.”

The GS Xceed licence agreement builds upon the productive relationship between Lonza and arGEN-X.  Lonza has manufactured two of arGEN-X’s clinical-stage proprietary therapeutic antibodies to date, as well as a third programme due to commence clinical trials in 2015.  Under the new agreement, arGEN-X has access to the GS Xceed System for the development and manufacture of both current and future therapeutic antibody products.

The GS Xceed System is Lonza’s latest innovation in mammalian protein expression, offering reduced cell line construction timelines and increased product yields.  For products in the early stages of development, the system was designed to help create commercially viable production cell lines for seamless integration into the Lonza platform process.