PharmAthene, Inc., a biodefense company developing medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, has entered into an exclusive commercial licence for the use of Percivia's proprietary PER.C6 technology platform in the production of PharmAthene's next generation recombinant butyrylcholinesterase (rBChE) bioscavenger.

The PER.C6 platform is a human, cell-based manufacturing system that enables the production of high quality, cost effective biological products for the life sciences industry with the added benefit of being fully human, unlike products manufactured using other expression systems.

"The PER.C6 platform offers many advantages over our initial transgenic approach, which successfully completed a phase I clinical study. These include, the opportunity for higher production yields with substantially reduced production costs and the capability for rapid scale up in the event of a chemical weapons attack," commented Eric I Richman, president and chief executive officer. "Also, since it is based on a recombinant human cell line, the PER.C6 platform should enable a final product with a pharmacokinetic profile that more closely matches the naturally occurring butyrylcholinesterase found in human plasma."

"PharmAthene is proud to be working in collaboration with the Department of Defense (DoD) to develop innovative new medical countermeasure solutions to address significant national security threats. The potential use of chemical weapons represents a growing concern. If successful, our rBChE bioscavenger platform could provide an efficient and flexible manufacturing approach and a more cost-effective solution for the US government to protect the US military and citizens from chemical weapons," said Dr John Troyer, vice president, Chemical Defense Product Development. "We have made significant advances under our current contract with the DoD and expect to begin pharmacokinetic and efficacy testing of rBChE in animals in the coming months."

A recombinant form of human butyrylcholinesterase, a naturally occurring protein found in minute quantities in blood. BChE functions as a natural bioscavenger, to absorb toxins such as organophosphorous compounds (nerve agents) and certain pesticides, before they cause irreversible neurological damage.

PharmAthene is developing rBChE as a pre- and post-exposure therapy for casualties on the battlefield or civilian victims of nerve agent attacks. Non-clinical studies in animals of PharmAthene's first generation rBChE product candidate have demonstrated that rBChE has the potential to provide significant protection against chemical nerve agent poisoning when administered prophylactically (prior to exposure to nerve agent) and also may increase survival when administered therapeutically (following nerve agent exposure).

Nerve agents belong to a class of compounds known as organophosphorus (OP) agents. OP nerve agents, such as sarin gas, soman, tabun or VX, enter the blood stream via inhalation or absorption through the skin. The nerve agents travel in the circulatory system to the brain and muscles causing the nerves to become over-stimulated which leads to massive convulsions and death in severe cases.

PharmAthene was formed to meet the critical needs of the United States and its allies by developing and commercialising medical countermeasures against biological and chemical agents.