Lonza Houston and Benitec Biopharma, a clinical stage biotechnology company commercialising a patented gene-silencing technology, DNA-directed RNA interference (ddRNAi), have entered a manufacturing services agreement.
The agreement is to develop a scalable manufacturing process for Benitec's ddRNAi-based, adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivered products intended for therapeutic use in humans.
This relationship will leverage Lonza's expertise to facilitate the development of a cost-effective, scalable and robust suspension culture-based manufacturing platform.
The platform is anticipated to enable the production of sufficient material to meet potential demand for treating diseases that affect millions of people such as hepatitis C.
Benitec's manufacturing vice-president Dr Claudia Kloth said: "As our lead ddRNAi-based hepatitis C therapy TT-034 continues to advance in clinical studies, Lonza is an ideal partner for us to optimise our large-scale production process based on its solid expertise and track record in process development and production of AAV-based gene therapeutics."
Lonza's Pharma and Biotech segment Emerging Technologies head Andreas Weiler said: "This agreement with Benitec continues the development of our robust and large-scale AAV platform for the production of AAV-based viral gene therapies.
"Lonza will utilise our cGMP manufacturing knowledge and world-class quality systems to help Benitec develop these promising novel therapeutics for patients."
