AGC Biologics integrates ATUM’s platform to expand cell line development services

Seattle-based AGC Biologics, a biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has expanded its Cell Line Development Center of Excellence through a new partnership with ATUM, a contract research organization (CRO) based in Newark, California, to integrate ATUM’s Leap-In Transposase expression platform into its development services. 

The collaboration is intended to help drug developers increase yields and shorten the time to clinical trials, according to the announcement. ATUM’s platform will be offered alongside AGC Biologics’ existing cell line development technologies, providing options for programs with varying complexity and speed requirements. 

The companies said the combined capabilities support the development of next-generation antibodies aimed at treating cancer, viral infections, and autoimmune diseases.

“We are acutely aware of the dual pressures our customers face: the need to innovate with increasingly complex molecules, and the simultaneous demand to get to the clinic faster and more cost-effectively than ever before,” AGC Biologics CTO Kasper Møller said in a statement. “Our partnership with ATUM is a direct response to that need.”

ATUM’s Leap-In technology is designed to stably integrate DNA into host cell genomes to generate highly productive, genetically stable cell lines. The companies contend that implementing the platform can reduce development timelines by an average of three months and enable earlier process development work.

“We developed the miCHO cell line and Leap-In Transposase to improve expression robustness, maximize efficiency and increase speed to clinic,” Claes Gustafsson, co-founder of ATUM, said in a statement. “The platform was designed with complex biologics manufacturing in mind. The combination of our enabling technology with AGC Biologics’ deep manufacturing expertise will create an exceptional offering for the industry.”

The new capability builds on AGC Biologics’ CHEF1 expression technology, which the company said has supported development of five approved products. The combined service portfolio will be available across AGC Biologics’ global network, including locations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

The announcement follows other recent developments from the CDMO, including a new agreement to provide GMP manufacturing for AAVantgarde’s two gene therapy candidates targeting progressive vision loss. 

The clinical programs will use AGC Biologics’ BravoAAV suspension platform, with production supported at the company’s Milan-based Cell and Gene Center of Excellence. According to AGC, the platform is designed to support accelerated gene therapy production, offering representative scale-down processes, GMP cell lines, in-house analytics and large-scale manufacturing capabilities.

_{This piece was created with the assistance of generative AI tools and was edited by our content team for clarity and accuracy.}