Companies partner to develop a new biosimilar cell line.

Biopharmaceutical solutions provider Abzena and Germany-based UGA Biopharma, a cell-line development specialist have announced the completion of development of a biosimilar line for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

The partnership revolves around creating an NSo (murine myeloma) cell line for a high quality, fully biosimilar antibody therapeutic. According to the joint announcement, the monoclonal antibody (mAb) cell line was developed and validated using Abzena’s bio-analytic capabilities and supported with UGA Biopharma’s guidance.

MS is a chronic condition in which nerves are damaged leading to delayed signaling to the brain. The disease afflicts 2.3 million worldwide. Although the companies did not disclose the originator of the murine myeloma cell line for the treatment of MS, the biopharmaceutical had worldwide annual sales of nearly $2 billion in 2016.

Abzena offers contract process development and GMP manufacture of biopharmaceuticals, including monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins for preclinical and clinical studies as well as contract synthetic chemistry and bioconjugation research services, proprietary site-specific conjugation technologies and novel payloads for ADC development.