Gene Expression System for the Research and Development of Human Therapeutic Antibodies

Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc and Lonza have announced the signing of a non-exclusive research license agreement, for access to Lonza’s GS Xceed™ Gene Expression System.  The GS Xceed™ System will be used in the generation of stable expression cell lines for the production and development of therapeutic antibodies in Sorrento’s product portfolio.

The research license agreement will give Sorrento access to Lonza’s GS technology for use in Sorrento’s maturing pipeline of therapeutic antibodies in oncology, inflammation, and infectious disease. Sorrento has shown yields of up to 3g/L with the GS Xceed™ System, in the production of antibodies targeting the vascular epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), an important anti-angiogenesis target for a number of solid tumour indications.  Several monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) will be produced and developed under the new agreement, including Sorrento’s lead anti-PD-L1 and anti-PD-1 antibodies, as well as a selection of traditionally difficult-to-obtain anti-chemokine receptor mAbs.

“We are excited to license Lonza’s GS Xceed™ System for the development of our lead human therapeutic antibody programs,” commented Henry Ji, PhD, President and CEO of Sorrento Therapeutics. “The speed and ease of use of the GS Xceed™ System will aid in the rapid selection of high-producing cell lines and accelerate the production and development of our most promising therapeutic candidates.”

“We look forward to supporting Sorrento’s efforts to expand and develop its pipeline of promising new therapeutic candidates,” said Karen Fallen, VP of Licensing and Technology, Lonza Development Services. “The GS Xceed System™ is an innovative and robust expression system derived from our industry-leading original GS System™ optimised through years of process development expertise.”