SAFC Commercial, the custom manufacturing services business unit of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (SIAL), has clinched commercial sales and licensing contracts from two premier Asian biopharmaceutical companies. The agreement is for the sale and licensing of CHOZN, the off-the-shelf cell line Bioproduction platform, to the Asian biopharmaceutical developers. This strengthens SAFC’s biopharmaceutical market presence in Asia.
The CHOZN Platform is featured as a prime component of customers' global biotherapeutic commercialization strategy in these contracts. The CHOZN Platform comprises the CHOZN GS-/- CHO cell line and an optimized set of cGMP-produced, chemically defined (:CD) media and feeds specifically geared for the cell line to maximize the production of monoclonal antibodies and other r-proteins.
The CHOZN GS (-/-) platform provides a stable cell line that accelerates selection and scale-up of high-producing clones for the production of recombinant protein drugs by conserving weeks of development. CHOZN, along with Sigma-Aldrich's CompoZr Zinc Finger Nuclease (:ZFN) technology, provides a gateway from development through commercialization.
SAFC also provides worldwide user support along with cell line, media and feed. SAFC works with customers on building protocols from transfection through to scale-up in bioreactors, as well as providing comprehensive cell line safety testing and development history packages. Moreover, the CD media and feed system allows for tunable product quality.
Sigma-Aldrich expects to widen its foothold in Asia based on its ability to speed up upstream development timelines to favorably impact the potential profitability of biotherapeutic products.
Sigma-Aldrich currently maintains a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
Other companies in the specialty chemical space with favorable Zacks Rank are OM Group Inc. (OMG), American Vanguard Corp. (AVD) and Ferro Corp. (FOE). While OM Group and American Vanguard hold a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Ferro Corp retains a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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