Dowpharma, Pfizer Collaborate on Cell Line

03/07/2005

Dowpharma, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.), announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Pfizer Inc. (New York, N.Y.) to develop a cell line using Pfēnex Expression Technology, a Pseudomonas-based technology from Dowpharma.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will fund efforts at Dowpharma to evaluate the production of a Pfizer therapeutic protein using Pfēnex Expression Technology, as well as the use of a Dow proprietary solvent extraction technology. Additional financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

"This agreement demonstrates the interest of the biopharmaceutical industry in producing therapeutic proteins using an expression system that delivers higher yields and process technologies that can reduce the overall cost of goods for biotherapeutics," said Nick Hyde, business director, Dowpharma. "In the cases that we have tested, Pfēnex consistently outperforms other commercially available microbial expression systems such as E. coli."

Pfēnex Expression Technology is built around specially modified strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria that increase cellular expression while maintaining critical solubility and activity characteristics of recombinantly expressed therapeutic proteins.

"This agreement allows Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, to leverage the resources and technologies of the world's largest chemical company. We believe our customized solutions and full spectrum of services will continue to meet and exceed the needs of our customers," said Hyde.